Sir Trevor Chinn was a potential target researched by an alleged al-Qaeda cell, a court has heard.
October 3, 2008 10:09ByAnonymous, Anonymous
Prominent businessman and community philanthropist Sir Trevor Chinn was a potential target researched by an alleged al-Qaeda cell, a court has heard.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court was told last week that Habib Ahmed, 38, of Cheetham Hill, Manchester, had researched how to make a bomb and had run several Google searches on possible targets.
These included Sir Trevor, chairman of the Israel-Britain Business Council and chair of the Mayor's Fund for London, described in court as someone "close to Tony Blair, who was then Prime Minister".
Also in the dock facing terror charges was Rangzieb Ahmed, 33, from Fallowfield, Manchester. The Crown says that Habib Ahmed was sent back to Britain from Pakistan with three books with writing in invisible ink, given to him by Rangzieb Ahmed.
"You don't write your shopping list in invisible ink, this clearly had some significance," said Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting.
Rangzieb Ahmed is accused of directing the activities of a terrorist organisation, possessing articles for terrorism and possessing a rucksack with traces of explosives. He denies the charges but has admitted being part of proscribed terror organisation Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
Habib Ahmed is accused of possessing information for terrorism and receiving terrorist training in Pakistan. His wife, Mehreen Haji, is accused of arranging funding for terrorism.
They deny the charges and the trial continues.
In a separate case at Manchester Crown Court last week, a man who made explosives and kept a highly toxic gas in his home in the heart of the city's Manchester Jewish community has been jailed for seven years.
Shoban Ahmed Butt, 19, made flammable devices in his home on King's Road, Prestwich, where he had recipes for making chemical and explosive substances.
Butt had hatched a blackmail plot following a dispute between a member of his family and another man, not thought to be Jewish. When police searched his house, they found explosive substances ready to use.
Rabbi Sammy Goldberg, from the Machzikei Hadass congregation, only doors away from where Butt lived, said: "I am glad he has been jailed. It was at our back door - but I do not find it frightening. These things happen everywhere. We are not complacent. We are always vigilant and we pray and try to help in any practical way."