Al-Qaeda group plots poisoning English football

One of seven men accused of plotting a terrorist campaign in the UK suggested poisoning football crowds by selling spiked drinks at matches, the Old Bailey criminal court in London heard on Friday, The Guardian reported. Waheed Mahmood, one of seven defendants with alleged al-Qaeda links, also talked about delivering contaminated food and claimed he had actually sold poisoned burgers from a mobile vending cart somewhere in Britain, according to US supergrass Mohammed Babar.

Babar has already pleaded guilty in the US to offences connected to a UK bomb plot and has been flown to London to testify at this trial about the time he spent with some of the defendants in Pakistan and their alleged plans to attack the UK. Yesterday, he told the court that Mahmood discussed ways of bringing jihad to Britain while in a house in Juja Khan, Pakistan, with him and other men, including two of the other defendants, Anthony Garcia and Salahuddin Amin, in February 2003.

He said Mahmood later gave other examples of how to wage jihad in the UK. "He said you could just get a job in a soccer stadium, like a beer vendor, and put poison into the cans ... and hand the tins out."

See also: Malaysian terrorist "was a Manchester United fan" ( 11 Nov 05) and Could football have lead OBL to an early asylum? (30 Sep 05)