Posted on 04/13/2005 9:25:38 AM PDT by aculeus
A suspected al-Qaeda operative who stabbed to death a policeman has been convicted of plotting to spread ricin and other poisons on the UK's streets.
Kamel Bourgass, 31, is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 raid in Manchester.
Reporting restrictions covering that conviction were lifted on Wednesday.
Four other men were cleared last week of taking part in a conspiracy. A second trial has been abandoned.
Another man, Mohammed Meguerba, who jumped bail and fled Britain, is awaiting trial in Algeria.
Police found a series of recipes, ingredients and equipment which would have enabled Bourgass to manufacture ricin, cyanide, nicotine poison and several other poisons. There were also instructions about making explosives.
Police believe Bourgass, an Algerian failed asylum-seeker, was an al-Qaeda operative and say he had discussed various ways of spreading nicotine poison, including smearing it on car door handles in the Holloway Road area of north London.
Anti-terrorist squad officers disrupted the operation when they raided a flat in Wood Green, north London, in January 2003.
They discovered castor oil beans - the raw material for ricin - along with equipment needed to produce it and recipes for ricin, cyanide, botulinum and other poisons, along with instructions for explosives.
On Friday a jury at the Old Bailey cleared Mouloud Sihali, David Khalef, Sidali Feddag and Mustapha Taleb of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
The jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict on a second count - conspiracy to commit murder - against Bourgass.
He was convicted of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by the use of poisons and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury.
Charges have also been dropped against four other men, Samir Asli, Khalid Alwerfeli, Mouloud Bouhrama and Kamel Merzoug, who were due to face trial next week.
Defence lawyers claimed that Sihali, Khalef, Feddag and Taleb were innocent people who were caught up in the police investigation simply because they knew Bourgass or, in the case of Taleb, had operated the photocopier on which the poison recipes were duplicated.
Bourgass fled after the Wood Green raid and ended up in Manchester. It was there he was arrested on 14 January 2003.
Desperate to get away, he punched an officer in the groin, grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed to death DC Oake. Three officers were also injured but Bourgass was overpowered and has been in custody ever since.
In June 2004 he was jailed for life for DC Oake's murder and told he must serve at least 20 years behind bars.
Police say Bourgass was a committed al-Qaeda operative who had spent time training in Afghanistan. Published: 2005/04/13 15:40:53 GMT
© BBC MMV
Was this the Iraq-Al Quaida connection? I had understood that a northern iraq camp had provided some of the expertise, etc. about ricin to target its use in England.
Was this the Iraq-Al Quaida connection? I had understood that a northern iraq camp had provided some of the expertise, etc. about ricin to target its use in England.
Furthermore, the young constable who was stabbed to death was, I presume, unarmed. If memory serves, he left a wife and three young children behind.
The remainder of the accused were all cut loose.
All in all, another shining day for British law enforcement and justice.
Pinging a Brit for comments.
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