2004 financial buildings plot

The 2004 financial buildings plot was a plan led by Dhiren Barot to attack several important buildings in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. This plan is believed to have been approved by al-Qaeda. The evidence against those involved included home videos, written notes, and files found on computers.

When the people involved were arrested, they did not have any money, vehicles, or equipment to make bombs. All eight suspects admitted to their actions in a British court. Dhiren Barot was given 40 years in jail. In 2007, seven others were also sentenced, receiving a total of 136 years in prison for their roles in the plot.

Plot and evidence

The plans were found on a laptop taken in Pakistan, in notebooks and videos from the suspects, and in deleted files on a computer. Although the leader, Dhiren Barot, had been watched since June 15, 2004, there was not enough proof to arrest him until August 3, 2004.

The leader made his plan while pretending to be a student in New York in 2000 and 2001, before the 11 September attacks. He wanted to attack the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, D.C., the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York City, and the Prudential headquarters in Newark, New Jersey.

He wrote reports about why these places were important, drew outlines of the buildings, and described how to carry out an attack. He also filmed the buildings and hid the clips inside a copy of the movie Die Hard. These plans were stopped after the attacks on those cities on September 11.

The most detailed plan was to fill three long cars with gas tanks and park them in an underground area to cause big damage and confusion. Hotels and train stations might have been targets.

The leader also planned to use smoke detectors in a special way. He thought about using 10,000 smoke detectors either on fire or with an explosion. Experts said this might have made 500 people sick but would not have caused deaths.

Arrests

A group of fourteen men, called the "Luton cell", were arrested in the Luton area in the UK on August 3, 2004. Dhiren Barot was arrested while getting a haircut in a barber shop in north London. The arrests happened quickly after the identity of an important person linked to a group was shared with a news organization the day before.

Trial

On August 17, 2004, eight men were charged with plans to attack important buildings. Dhiren Barot was seen as the leader. The group did not have money, cars, or tools to make bombs, but they had notes about possible targets and information on dangerous materials.

Barot later admitted to planning attacks and was sentenced to life in prison, but this was reduced to 30 years. Other members of the group also received long prison sentences.

US charges

On April 12, 2005, U.S. authorities charged three men: Dhiren Barot, also known as Esa al-Hindi, Nadeem Tarmohamed, and Qaisar Shaffi. The charges included claims that Barot attended a jihad training camp in Afghanistan in 1998 and that he observed certain buildings in the U.S. between 2000 and 2001 while pretending to be a student. All three were accused of planning to damage and destroy important buildings. Although earlier reports suggested a link to the 11 September 2001 attacks, officials said the charges at that time did not include any specific connection to that group.