Operation Crevice
Encyclopedia
Operation Crevice was a raid launched by Metropolitan
and local police
in England
on the morning of 30 March 2004. It was in response to a report indicating cells of terrorists
of Pakistan
i origin were operating in the Thames Valley
, Sussex
, Surrey
and Bedfordshire
areas, the source of which was said to be an interception of an instruction sent from Al-Qaeda
leaders in Pakistan to militants in Britain. The operation resulted in five men being found guilty in April 2007 of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life.
in west London.
At least six homes in Langley Green
, in Crawley
, were searched, and an area was excavated at one site. A biscuit tin filled with aluminium
powder, another potential bomb ingredient, was recovered behind a garden shed.
The arrest of software engineer Mohammad Momin Khawaja on 29 March 2004, in Ottawa
, Canada
, was reportedly related to Operation Crevice. He was reportedly experimenting with remote-controlled detonators.
The court case against the men began in March 2006 and lasted till April 30, 2007. The jury
was out for 27 days. The BBC report named the accused as:
Mohammad Momin Khawaja, in custody in Canada, also stands as the 8th man charged of being part of the alleged plot. A ninth man, Mohammed Junaid Babar
is the prosecution's star witness
. An alleged leader of this group was a man named Mohammed Quyyum Khan who was an alleged associate of both Abu Hamza & Omar Bakri. Mohammed Quayyum Khan [or "Q" as he was called by the group & the courts] is apparently still at large after the police, inexplicably, failed to arrest him.
British Intelligence Services have also still not announced the links between the accused & the 7/7 bombers even though photographic evidence was leaked to the daily newspapers showing members of this gang with two of the future suicide bombers.
The court case, the BBC reports, is based mainly around the evidence of so-called supergrass
(informant) Mohammed Junaid Babar, who was found guilty of terrorist offences in the USA. The defence described him as a "liar and a fantasist." The BBC also report that the potential targets for the case included the Bluewater shopping centre in Greenhithe
, Kent
, the Ministry of Sound
nightclub in London and London synagogue
s.
is the prosecution's star witness. He was flown to London to give evidence in the case, and arrived at court amid heavy security, driven from a police station in an armoured convoy with a helicopter overhead.
The prosecution claims that he was part of the plot and "has an insight as an insider into the events and plans, which an outsider could not have."
He has been given immunity from prosecution in relation to the charges the British defendants face.
He claims to have stolen three computers from a software company he worked for in Peshawar
and given them to Mahmood because they were needed by Al Qaeda. The company was run by the older brother of one of the founder members of al-Muhajiroun
.
The counsel for the defence called this witness "a liar, nothing more than a conceited fantasist."
Omar Khyam's defence testimony began with him telling the court of his gradual conversion to militant jihadist and wish to help the fighters in Kashmir
and Afghanistan
.
Then, on 18 September, to the surprise of his defence counsel, Khyam refused to give any more evidence, stating that the ISI
in Pakistan has had words with his family and were worried that he might reveal more about them. He added: "right now, as much as I want to clarify matters, the priority for me has to be the safety of my family so I am going to stop." He assured the judge that he understood that his refusal to answer questions might cause the jury to be suspicious.
Salahuddin Amin's testimony consisted of claims that he had been tortured by his Pakistani jailers during his 10 month detention, and that this must have been known to the US and British officials who interviewed him numerous times during his detention. He said he confessed to being involved in a plot to buy an "isotope bomb" after being hung up by his wrists and beaten on his back and "things" with the lashes, and threatened to be raped by the handle.
Nabeel Hussain, who loaned the money to pay for the storage of ammonium nitrate, claimed he thought it was sand.
Counsel for Shujah Mahmood, who was only 16 at the time of the events, claimed he was not aware of the plot and was merely taken advantage of by his older brother.
Judge Sir Michael Astill announced on 20 April 2007 that he would accept a majority verdict in the case. On 30 April, Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Jawad Akbar, Salahuddin Amin, and Anthony Garcia were found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January 2003 and 31 March 2004. Shujah Mahmood and Nabeel Hussain were found not guilty of all charges.
The defendants found guilty were sentenced to life imprisonment. Omar Khyam was given a minimum term of 20 years, Anthony Garcia 20 years, Jawad Akbar 17½ years, Waheed Mahmood 20 years and Salahuddin Amin 17½ years.
Momin Khawaja was found guilty in Canada’s first terrorism trial on charges of helping to develop bomb detonators, possession of explosives, helping to finance terrorist activity, receiving terrorist training and facilitating terrorism. On March 12, 2009 he was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison.
. According to the BBC
, some of the perpetrators became interested in jihad during the time they were involved with al-Muhajiroun
. According to Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies.
Al-Muhajiroun was disbanded by its founder Omar Bakri Mohammed in 2004. Shortly after 7 July 2005 London bombings
, Prime Minister Tony Blair "announced the group would be banned as part of a series of measures against condoning or glorifying terrorism."
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
and local police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on the morning of 30 March 2004. It was in response to a report indicating cells of terrorists
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i origin were operating in the Thames Valley
Thames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
and Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
areas, the source of which was said to be an interception of an instruction sent from Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
leaders in Pakistan to militants in Britain. The operation resulted in five men being found guilty in April 2007 of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life.
The arrests
A number of arrests were made, and 1,300 pounds (600 kg) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which can be used in making bombs, were confiscated. The chemical was seized in a storage space in HanwellHanwell
Hanwell is a town situated in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, between Ealing and Southall. The motto of Hanwell Urban District Council was Nec Aspera Terrent...
in west London.
At least six homes in Langley Green
Langley Green, Crawley
Langley Green is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Langley Green is in the north-west of the town and is bordered by Manor Royal to the east, Northgate to the south east, West Green to the south across the ring road and Ifield to the west. The main streets running...
, in Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
, were searched, and an area was excavated at one site. A biscuit tin filled with aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
powder, another potential bomb ingredient, was recovered behind a garden shed.
The arrest of software engineer Mohammad Momin Khawaja on 29 March 2004, in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, was reportedly related to Operation Crevice. He was reportedly experimenting with remote-controlled detonators.
The court case against the men began in March 2006 and lasted till April 30, 2007. The jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
was out for 27 days. The BBC report named the accused as:
- Salahuddin Amin, 31, from LutonLutonLuton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
, Bedfordshire - Jawad Akbar, 22, from Crawley, West Sussex
- Anthony Garcia (also known as Rahman Benouis), 23, of IlfordIlfordIlford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It forms a significant commercial and retail...
, east London - Nabeel HussainNabeel HussainNabeel Hussain was one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom, and one of the nineteen whose accounts were frozen by the Bank of England.-References:...
, 20, of HorleyHorleyHorley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of Gatwick Airport and Crawley.With fast links by train to London from Horley railway station, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years...
, Surrey (subsequently found not guilty) - Omar Khyam, 24-year old computer student from Crawley, West Sussex who was captain of the Sussex Under-18 CricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
team and expected to play for the English national team. He had traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2000. - Waheed Mahmood, 34, from Crawley, West Sussex
- Shujah Mahmood, 19, from Crawley, West Sussex (subsequently found not guilty)
Mohammad Momin Khawaja, in custody in Canada, also stands as the 8th man charged of being part of the alleged plot. A ninth man, Mohammed Junaid Babar
Mohammed Junaid Babar
Mohammed Junaid Babar is a Pakistani American who, after pleading guilty to terrorist related offences in New York, testified in March 2006 against a group of men accused of plotting 21 July 2005 London bombings...
is the prosecution's star witness
Witness
A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
. An alleged leader of this group was a man named Mohammed Quyyum Khan who was an alleged associate of both Abu Hamza & Omar Bakri. Mohammed Quayyum Khan [or "Q" as he was called by the group & the courts] is apparently still at large after the police, inexplicably, failed to arrest him.
British Intelligence Services have also still not announced the links between the accused & the 7/7 bombers even though photographic evidence was leaked to the daily newspapers showing members of this gang with two of the future suicide bombers.
The court case, the BBC reports, is based mainly around the evidence of so-called supergrass
Supergrass (informer)
Supergrass is a slang term for an informer, which originated in London. Informers had been referred to as "grasses" since the late-1930s, and the "super" prefix was coined by journalists in the early 1970s to describe those informers from the city's underworld who testified against former...
(informant) Mohammed Junaid Babar, who was found guilty of terrorist offences in the USA. The defence described him as a "liar and a fantasist." The BBC also report that the potential targets for the case included the Bluewater shopping centre in Greenhithe
Greenhithe
Greenhithe is a town in Dartford District of Kent, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe.Greenhithe, as it is spelled today, is located where it was possible to build wharves for transshipping corn, wood and other commodities; its largest cargoes were of chalk and...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, the Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and...
nightclub in London and London synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s.
Mohammed Junaid Babar
Mohammed Junaid BabarMohammed Junaid Babar
Mohammed Junaid Babar is a Pakistani American who, after pleading guilty to terrorist related offences in New York, testified in March 2006 against a group of men accused of plotting 21 July 2005 London bombings...
is the prosecution's star witness. He was flown to London to give evidence in the case, and arrived at court amid heavy security, driven from a police station in an armoured convoy with a helicopter overhead.
The prosecution claims that he was part of the plot and "has an insight as an insider into the events and plans, which an outsider could not have."
He has been given immunity from prosecution in relation to the charges the British defendants face.
He claims to have stolen three computers from a software company he worked for in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
and given them to Mahmood because they were needed by Al Qaeda. The company was run by the older brother of one of the founder members of al-Muhajiroun
Al-Muhajiroun
Al-Muhajiroun is a banned Islamist organisation that was based in Britain and which has been linked to international terrorism, homophobia and anti-semitism...
.
The counsel for the defence called this witness "a liar, nothing more than a conceited fantasist."
The trial
The trial began in March 2006, and the prosecution ran its charges until the end of August. The allegations brought up by the witness testimony and evidence included the following:- Possession of a 600 kg bag of ammonium nitrate fertiliser "which could have been used to make bombs".
- Planning to hide ammonium nitrate in bags of dried fruitDried fruitDried fruit is fruit where the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized...
so that it could be shipped to the UK by Federal Express. - Conspiring with Mohammed Momin Khawaja, a Canadian, and other unknown persons to "cause... an explosion... of a nature likely to endanger life".
- Working for Abdul Hadi, said to be number three in Al Qaeda.
- Planning to transport detonators inside small radios or bottles of shampoo or shaving cream from Pakistan to the UK via Iran, Turkey, eastern Europe, and Belgium.
- Planning to buy a radio-isotope bomb from the Russian mafia in Belgium.
- Plotting to poison football crowds by selling spiked drinks at matches, and sell poisoned food from a takeaway restaurant.
- Receiving terrorist training in the use of explosives in Pakistan.
- Planning to set off explosions in shopping centres, nightclubs, synagogues, and disrupt electricity and gas supplies. The police played secret recordings during the trial made in February 2004 of the suspects discussing potential targets.
- Plotting to emulate the 11 September 2001 attacks by finding 30 "brothers" willing to commit suicide and crash a plane. (This discussion was also caught on tape.)
Omar Khyam's defence testimony began with him telling the court of his gradual conversion to militant jihadist and wish to help the fighters in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
Then, on 18 September, to the surprise of his defence counsel, Khyam refused to give any more evidence, stating that the ISI
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
in Pakistan has had words with his family and were worried that he might reveal more about them. He added: "right now, as much as I want to clarify matters, the priority for me has to be the safety of my family so I am going to stop." He assured the judge that he understood that his refusal to answer questions might cause the jury to be suspicious.
Salahuddin Amin's testimony consisted of claims that he had been tortured by his Pakistani jailers during his 10 month detention, and that this must have been known to the US and British officials who interviewed him numerous times during his detention. He said he confessed to being involved in a plot to buy an "isotope bomb" after being hung up by his wrists and beaten on his back and "things" with the lashes, and threatened to be raped by the handle.
Nabeel Hussain, who loaned the money to pay for the storage of ammonium nitrate, claimed he thought it was sand.
Counsel for Shujah Mahmood, who was only 16 at the time of the events, claimed he was not aware of the plot and was merely taken advantage of by his older brother.
Judge Sir Michael Astill announced on 20 April 2007 that he would accept a majority verdict in the case. On 30 April, Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Jawad Akbar, Salahuddin Amin, and Anthony Garcia were found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January 2003 and 31 March 2004. Shujah Mahmood and Nabeel Hussain were found not guilty of all charges.
The defendants found guilty were sentenced to life imprisonment. Omar Khyam was given a minimum term of 20 years, Anthony Garcia 20 years, Jawad Akbar 17½ years, Waheed Mahmood 20 years and Salahuddin Amin 17½ years.
Momin Khawaja was found guilty in Canada’s first terrorism trial on charges of helping to develop bomb detonators, possession of explosives, helping to finance terrorist activity, receiving terrorist training and facilitating terrorism. On March 12, 2009 he was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison.
Background
An organisation associated with the attacks is the group al-MuhajirounAl-Muhajiroun
Al-Muhajiroun is a banned Islamist organisation that was based in Britain and which has been linked to international terrorism, homophobia and anti-semitism...
. According to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, some of the perpetrators became interested in jihad during the time they were involved with al-Muhajiroun
Al-Muhajiroun
Al-Muhajiroun is a banned Islamist organisation that was based in Britain and which has been linked to international terrorism, homophobia and anti-semitism...
. According to Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies.
The fertiliser bomb trial has given us the smoking-gun evidence that groups like al-Muhajiroun have had an important part in radicalising young British Muslims, and that this can create terrorists.
Al-Muhajiroun was disbanded by its founder Omar Bakri Mohammed in 2004. Shortly after 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
, Prime Minister Tony Blair "announced the group would be banned as part of a series of measures against condoning or glorifying terrorism."
External links
- New York Times 13 July 2005.
- 2004 Times newspaper article
- The Scotsman Web site 15 July 2005.
- BBC News Article 22 June 2006
- Channel 4 News Report 30 March 2006
- UK fertiliser bomb plot BBC News
- "Could 7/7 have been prevented?" UK Cabinet Office, Intelligence and Security Committee, London, May 2009