[JURIST] Dhiren Barot [BBC profile], a British man who pleaded guilty to planning a series of bombs on US and British targets, was sentenced to life in prison [Met press release] Tuesday. Barot was accused of planning several attacks, including the "Gas Limo Project" [Times report] to blow up three limousines filled with explosives in underground parking garages in Britain. Justice Butterfield of the Woolwich Crown Court handed down the sentence, saying a successful execution of Barot's plans would have resulted in a catastrophe on a "colossal and unprecedented scale." Prosecutors presented evidence [BBC backgrounder] that Barot wrote a proposal to obtain approval and funding for the plan from al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan. Barot pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to conspiracy charges for his involvement in the plot last month, but his seven co-defendants maintain their innocence.

Prosecutors also said Barot planned to detonate a bomb below the River Thames in an attempt to immerse the London subway system in water. In addition to attacks planned throughout the UK, prosecutors alleged that Barot planned to attack the International Monetary Fund and World Bank [official websites] buildings in Washington DC, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York City, and the Prudential [corporate websites] buildings in Newark, New Jersey. Barot was indicted [text; JURIST report] in New York for the US-related bomb plans last April, along with two other men. BBC News has more.