A British man who U.S. authorities say planned to blow up international institutions in downtownWashington pleaded guilty in London Thursday to charges of being the mastermind of similar plots in New York.
U.S. terrorism officials have identified Dhiran Barot, 34, as a senior al-Qaida figure who planned to bomb the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington and the New York Stock Exchange in New York.
On Thursday, Barot pleaded guilty in a London court on charges that he was the man behind the plot to bomb high-profile targets in Britain using limousines packed with explosives.
Barot, a British citizen who was raised a Hindu before converting to Islam, was arrested in August 2004 amid a heightened security alert for financial institutions in the United States. Seven other men are due to face trial next year.
Investigators found the “gas limos” plan on a computer after Barot’s arrest. The group planned to pack three limousines with gas cylinders and explosives and detonate them in underground parking garages, prosecutors said, although no funding had been received for Barot’s projects, nor any vehicles or bomb-making materials acquired.
U.S. officials claim Barot scouted prominent financial targets in the United States at the behest of Osama bin Laden.
He was indicted last year in New York, along with two others, on charges of plotting to attack the buildings.
Under British law, domestic legal proceedings take precedence over a U.S. extradition attempt.
Prosecutors said the “back-to-back” attacks involved three other projects, including “the rough presentation for radiation or dirty-bomb projects.”
A dirty bomb combines radioactive material with conventional explosives, though prosecutors did not offer detail on the components of the planned device.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
