London Court Hearing Scheduled over Alleged Plot to Down U.S.-Bound Airliners

Fifteen suspects charged over an alleged plot to bomb U.S.-bound airliners with improvised explosives were scheduled to face a court Friday, prosecution officials said.

Detectives rounded up the group on Aug. 9-10. over a purported plan to target trans-Atlantic air passengers.

The alleged plot - which authorities said would have targeted flights from London to the United States with explosives concealed in containers of liquids or gels - caused major disruption to flights in August, and eventually led to airlines reviewing what they would allow passengers to take on board planes as carry-on luggage.

Judge David Calvert-Smith was to be updated on police inquiries and to refine a timetable for the court proceedings, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

The 13 suspects being held in custody were to appear at the hearing via a video link. Two other suspects currently on bail would attend London's Central Criminal Court in person, the spokesman said.

Eleven men are charged with a count of conspiracy to murder and an offense of preparing acts of terrorism. They are: Umar Islam, 28; Waheed Zaman, 22; Ahmed Abdullah Ali, 25; Tanvir Hussain, 25; Arafat Khan, 25; Ibrahim Savant, 25; Assad Sarwar, 26; and Adam Khatib, 19; Nabeel Hussain, 22; Mohammed Gulzar, 25; and Mohammed Uddin, 35.

Mohammed Saddique, 24, and Donald Stewart Whyte, 21, are charged with a count of preparing terrorism. Whyte is also accused of three firearms offenses, including possession of an 8mm pistol.

Two other suspects - both previously released on court bail - face minor charges in connection with the plot, which caused major disruption to trans-Atlantic and European air travel.

Cossar Ali, 24, Abdullah Ali's wife, is charged with failing to disclose information about her husband. A 17-year-old man, who cannot be named as he is a minor, is charged with possessing material considered useful for the preparation of a terrorist act.

Prosecutor Colin Gibbs told an earlier hearing the suspects would not be brought to trial before 2008 as officials sift through evidence from across the world.

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