Trial to Open in Alleged British Bomb Plot That Prompted Tighter Security at Airports

LONDON, April 1 -- The trial of eight British Muslims, charged in an alleged terrorist plot that led to permanent changes in air travel for hundreds of millions of people, begins this week in a London courtroom.

The men, most of them in their 20s and of Pakistani heritage, face charges of conspiracy to murder for allegedly plotting to use liquid explosives to blow up as many as 10 commercial jetliners flying from Britain to the United States.

Authorities accuse the men, arrested in August 2006 in Britain's largest-ever anti-terrorism investigation, of planning to kill thousands of people in what would have been the most ambitious terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

Just as foiled "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, another British Muslim, turned shoes into objects of suspicion at airport security checkpoints, the airliner case has led to permanent restrictions on carrying liquids or gels onto commercial airliners. It also has cost airlines, airports, police, duty-free shops and other businesses hundreds of millions of dollars.

"This has affected all our lives," said Sajjan Gohel, a security analyst in London.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is scheduled to begin Wednesday with jury selection and could take as long as a year. Because British law severely restricts release of information related to criminal cases, full details of the government's case will start to emerge only when the trial begins.

The security scare began in the early hours of Aug. 10, 2006, when British authorities conducted simultaneous raids on dozens of homes and businesses across England.

Police and security officials immediately announced that they believed the plot involved a previously unknown method of attack: smuggling liquid explosives in plastic sports-drink bottles and separate detonators, then assembling them on board.

"It could have happened within weeks," said a senior British security official, speaking last week on the condition of anonymity. "They had the people, they were in the final stages of preparing the devices. Yeah, they were close."

The official called the plot "a sophisticated piece of work" that might have killed "2,500 or 3,000" passengers. If the planes had blown up over water, the official said, evidence would have been lost to the ocean depths and investigators might not have immediately been able to determine what kind of bombs were used.

During their investigation, police said they searched 69 locations, arrested 21 people (several were released without charge) and confiscated 400 computers, 200 cellphones and 8,000 computer-related items such as memory sticks, CDs and DVDs. They said they also confiscated several videotaped suicide messages known as martyrdom videos.

Police said they had been conducting audio and video surveillance for months on a London apartment they called a bomb factory, where they said they observed the alleged plotters experimenting with bomb components.