Four British men allegedly inspired by the words of a US-born Muslim religious leader have pleaded guilty to involvement in a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange at Christmas time in 2010.
The men were among nine defendants facing trial in London over an alleged al-Qaeda-inspired plot to attack several prominent targets. All had initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
But on Wednesday four of them pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to involvement in the stock-exchange attack plan, and the five others to lesser charges.
Mohammed Chowdhury, Shah Rahman, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah, all aged between 21 and 30, admitted to preparing for acts of terrorism by planning to plant an improvised explosive device in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange.
Andrew Edis, the prosecution lawyer, accepted that the men had not planned to kill anyone.
“Their intention was to cause terror and economic harm and disruption,” he said. “But their chosen method meant there was a risk people would be maimed or killed.”
Plot’s ‘lynchpin’
Chowdhury, from London, was described by prosecutors as the “lynchpin” of the plot.
His lawyer, Christopher Blaxland, said Chowdhury admitted planning to plant the bomb, “with the obvious attendant risk but without any intention to cause death or even injury but with the intention to terrorise, damage property
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