Terrorists in Court (1) : This week a storythat made the front page in all the national press: a British Muslim pleaded guilty to “plotting mass murder through a series of terrorist outrages in the UK and the US“
In one of the few major successes for anti-terrorist investigators since September 11, Dhiran Barot, 34, also admitted planning to use a radioactive dirty bomb in the UK that would have caused “injury, fear, terror and chaos”, a court heard.
Among the other targets for the synchronised bombings were landmark financial institutions in New York and Washington.
Another of his plans involved blowing up three limousines, packed with flammable gas cylinders and explosives, in underground car parks somewhere in Britain. The locations were not specified.
Hip hip hoorah! Another terrorist outrage foiled by our guardians!
But hang on – further down the page:
The crown did not dispute claims from the defence that no funding had been received for the plots, nor had any of what would have been the necessary vehicles or bomb-making equipment been acquired.
In other words, there was no evidence at all that this dastardly terrorist conspiracy existed outside the imagination of somebody who might be just an attention-seeking fantasist.
A possible clue as to what might be going on here lies in the very last paragraph of the story:
Mr Lawson said that by pleading guilty, Barot “makes no admission with regard to the involvement of any of his seven co-defendants in the conspiracy”. Seven other men, who deny all charges against them, are due to face trial next year.
(Non-)Terrorists in Court (2): This week a story that appeared in print only in local Lancashire newspapers: Two men arrested last week after police recovered a “record haul” of chemicals that could potentially be used to make explosives.
The police also recovered rocket launchers …. and a nuclear biological suit. The chemical components recovered by police are believed to be the largest haul ever found at a house in Britain …… Both men, Robert Cottage (49) and David Bolus Jackson (62), made separate appearances before a court charged with under the Explosive Substances Act of 1883 for being in possession of an explosive substance for an unlawful purpose.
Both these men are white; neither of them are Muslim. At least one of them is a current BNP member; BNP literature was seized along with the chemicals and weapons.
However, neither of the men have been charged with any terrorist offences. According to the police superintendent in charge of the operation, “It is not a bomb making factory” and not related to terrorism.
Phew! So that’s all right then…..