Four British men pleaded guilty on Wednesday 1 February to involvement in an allegedly al Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange.
The quartet, Mohammed Chowdhury, 21; Shah Rahman, 28; Gurukanth Desai, 30; and Abdul Miah, 25, were among nine defendants facing trial in London over the alleged plan to attack the LSE and other high-profile targets in December 2010. They admitted preparing for acts of terrorism by planning to plant an improvised explosive device in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange.
A handwritten target list was found at one of the defendant’s homes listing the names and addresses of London Mayor Boris Johnson, two rabbis, the American Embassy and the Stock Exchange.
All had initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them until now.
The guilty plea was heard at Woolwich Crown Court, a week before sentencing, from four of the defendants with the other five facing lesser charges.
The men were among nine defendants to be tried in London over various terror offenses.
The suspects, aged between 20 and 30, were arrested in London, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent, in what police described as the biggest anti-terror raid in two years.
All nine were accused of agreeing on targets, discussing materials and methods, and researching files “containing practical instruction for a terrorist attack.”
A handwritten target list found at one of the defendant’s homes listed the names and addresses of London Mayor Boris Johnson, two rabbis, the American Embassy and the Stock Exchange.
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