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A British would-be suicide bomber who planned to blow up a passenger aircraft has pleaded guilty after a painstaking international investigation by the Met’s Anti-Terrorist Branch.

25-year-old Saajid Badat planned to detonate a bomb on board a flight from Europe to the United States.

When officers arrested Badat at his Gloucestershire home in November 2003 they found high explosives and detonator cord, component parts of a device that had been disassembled.

On Monday 28 February, the Central Criminal Court heard that Badat, who received training in Afghanistan and Pakistan, had been given an explosive device specially designed to evade airport security.

The device was almost identical to that used by another Briton Richard Reid when he attempted to blow up a passenger aircraft in December 2001.

The court was told that the plan was for Badat and Reid to bring down passenger aircraft at similar times towards the end of December 2001. However, Badat changed his mind and decided to withdraw from the mission.

He will be sentenced later this month.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Met’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, said police undertook a painstaking investigation lasting three years and spanning 15 countries:

"The investigation is a tremendous example of co-operation between international agencies and those in the UK.

"This conviction demonstrates the reality of the threat we are facing. Badat had agreed to blow up a passenger aircraft from Europe to the United States and was prepared to kill himself and hundreds of innocent people.

"We must ask how a young British man was transformed from an intelligent, articulate person who was well respected, into a person who has pleaded guilty to one of the most serious crimes that you can think of."

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01 March 2005