'London bomb plot was just a hoax'

[DoYouEverWonder]

17 January 2007

One of the defendants in the London "bomb plot" trial, Hussein Osman, was arrested in Rome and interviewed at length by police.

He is said to have told officers after his arrest he and his co-accused had been making a political point and the devices they carried were never meant to explode.

Nigel Sweeney QC, prosecuting, told Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Osman had admitted to police that his real name was Hamdi Isaac and he was born in Ethiopia in 1978.

Mr Osman was said to have told police he had moved to Italy in the early 1990s and to the UK in the late 1990s where he adopted the identity Hussein Osman.

He also said he had pretended he was Somali because he thought it would make it easier to claim asylum.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6269161.stm

[IronScorpio5]

1. Well, if its a hoax....

then its a bad joke and theyre innocent.

[Hoping4Change]

9. The facts indicate its not a hoax.

"Osman had told police the bombs were "a deliberate hoax in order to make a political point" and were not intended to kill. But Sweeney said forensic scientists had tested the mixture, and "in every experiment this mixture has exploded." "





http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/01/16/british_jury_hears_transit_bomb_case/

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Greeby]

2. Great, so Osman isn't a terrorist

He's a major league asshole! :eyes:

[Amused Musings]

3. On the other hand, I assume they would say it was a

hoax, if it failed so miserably. Maybe get a lighter sentence. I have a feeling though, that the court will not be convinced due to the seriousness of the crime alleged.

[Eugene]

4. Some hoax. A slightly purer chemical mix would have been lethal.

Police say that the main bombs failed to go off
because the chemical mix either was not concentrated
enough or it degraded in the summer heat.

Their flour and hydrogen peroxide mix was explosive.
They also packed their "hoax" bombs in nails.
Those "dud" bombs were anything but harmless.

[IronScorpio5]

5. you know that for s fact?

if thts true i'm glad it didnt go off.

[soothsayer]

6. well, police say alot of things

just sayin'

[nebenaube]

7. flour and peroxide?

Surely you jest?

[Hoping4Change]

8. Hardly a jest. The combination creates a deadly explosive.

"Osman had told police the bombs were "a deliberate hoax in order to make a political point" and were not intended to kill. But Sweeney said forensic scientists had tested the mixture, and "in every experiment this mixture has exploded."

The main explosive charge was 70 percent liquid hydrogen peroxide and 30 percent flour of the type used for chapatis, a type of Indian flatbread, Sweeney said.

The detonators contained triacetone triperoxide or TATP, an explosive used by Palestinian suicide bombers and by Richard Reid, who tried to detonate a shoe bomb on a US-bound aircraft. The explosives were packed in plastic tubs, with screws, bolts and other pieces of metal taped on the outside as shrapnel, the prosecutor said.

Commercially available hydrogen peroxide is too diluted to be explosive, Sweeney said, so the men bought a total of 284 bottles and then boiled the substance to increase the concentration. Traces of hydrogen peroxide and TATP were found in Omar's apartment, along with evidence that hydrogen peroxide had been boiled.

Sweeney said the components for the bombs were bought beginning in April 2005, proving the attacks were "not some hastily arranged copycat" of July 7.

"It follows from what I have been saying that the evidence in this case shows that the conspiracy had been in existence long before the events of July 7," Sweeney said."



http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/01/16/british_jury_hears_transit_bomb_case/

[Julius Civitatus]

10. Lamest execuse ever

Their lawyer must be aware their clients are indefensible, and he may be trying some desperate, completely incredible line of defense. Sure, it was a "hoax", after they were caught red-handed with the explosive devices. Quite a "sense of humor" these bastards have.

[IronScorpio5]

12. One wonders if there was some racial profiling...

going on.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Racial profiling? In what way?

There's noting in the story that would point at that.

[IronScorpio5]

14. Good point

i misread the op.