British citizen admits to airplane bombing plot News
British citizen admits to airplane bombing plot

[JURIST] Saajid Badat, a British citizen, pleaded guilty in court in London Monday on charges of conspiring to place an explosive device on an aircraft in service. Prosecutors plea-bargained Badat in light of evidence indicating that he voluntarily withdrew from the plot after returning from his training. Badat, a 25 year old from Gloucester, received suicide bomber training in Pakistan and Afghanistan and was in possession of materials needed to slip an explosive device onto a commercial airliner. The device was identical to the one used by Richard Reid [BBC profile], the "shoe bomber" that attempted to set off an explosive hidden in his shoe on a flight from Paris to Miami in December, 2001. Investigators found phone cards linking Badat to Reid and both of them to their alleged terrorist contact, Nizar Trabelsi, now in prison in Belgium. BBC News has local coverage.