Nine men pleaded not guilty in a British court on Friday to plotting terror attacks on targets in London including the Houses of Parliament and the US embassy. The suspects, aged between 20 and 29, from London, the central English town of Stoke-on-Trent and the Welsh capital Cardiff, were arrested in a series of raids by counter-terrorism officers on December 21 last year. Appearing at Woolwich Crown Court in London to enter their pleas, they also denied conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life or damage property between November 1 and December 21, 2010.
The nine men, who are mainly of South Asian origin, also denied they were preparing for acts of terrorism between the same dates. They are accused of agreeing targets, discussing materials and methods, carrying out reconnaissance work, attending operational meetings and downloading and researching files “containing practical instruction for a terrorist attack.” Five of the men are also accused of possession of a document “containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing for an act of terrorism”. Four are accused of possessing two editions of the Al-Qaeda magazine “Inspire” and a document titled “39 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad.”
