It was in response to a report indicating cells of terrorists of Pakistani origin operating in the Thames Valley, Sussex, Surrey and Bedfordshire areas, the source of which was said to be an interception of an instruction sent from Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan to militants in Britain.
In March 2020 Jonathan Evans, Former Director General, MI5 gave an interview and citing one passage: 'The plot itself, however, appeared to be encouraged and fomented by al-Qa`ida in the tribal areas.
[citation needed] Mohammed Quayyum Khan (or "Q" as he was called by the group and the courts) was apparently still at large after the police, inexplicably, failed to arrest him.
The court case was based mainly on the evidence of so-called supergrass (informant) Mohammed Junaid Babar, who was found guilty of terrorist offences in the United States.
He was flown to London to give evidence in the case, and arrived at court amid heavy security, driven from a police station in an armoured convoy with a helicopter overhead.
[17] Then, on 18 September, to the surprise of his defence counsel, Khyam refused to give any more evidence, stating that the ISI in Pakistan has had words with his family and were worried that he might reveal more about them.
He said he confessed to being involved in a plot to buy an "isotope bomb" after being hung up by his wrists and beaten on his back and "things" with the lashes, and threatened to be raped by the handle.
[22] On 30 April, Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Jawad Akbar, Salahuddin Amin, and Anthony Garcia were found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January 2003 and 31 March 2004.
[25] According to Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies – The fertiliser bomb trial has given us the smoking-gun evidence that groups like al-Muhajiroun have had an important part in radicalising young British Muslims, and that this can create terrorists.
Shortly after 7 July 2005 London bombings, Prime Minister Tony Blair "announced the group would be banned as part of a series of measures against condoning or glorifying terrorism.