The UK press is full of stories today about the three men who allegedly plotted to commit an attack on London that would be bigger than 7/7, the 2005 bombings on the London underground that killed over 50 people.
Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid, and Ashik Ali have all been appeared in London court, accused with planning a bomb attack and heading to Pakistan for training. Police say the group planned to use up to eight bombs in bags to "commit an act or acts of terrorism on a scale potentially greater than the London bombings in July 2005 had it been allowed to run its course", the Guardian reports.
Perhaps most notable is the methods the three allegedly used to raise money for the plan. The Telegraph reports that group organized charity street collections in their native Birmingham, telling locals that the money raised would be sent to Muslim Aid, a long-running UK charity, and a local religious school.
The group allegedly collected $21,000 (£13,500), yet Muslim Aid and the school only received $2,400 and $1,440 respectively. The group's alleged leader, Ahmed, sought to increase the funds via foreign exchange trading, the BBC reports.
Unfortunately Ahmed's plan failed, and he lost almost all of the money ($14,000) through "incompetent" trading.
The money may not have been the alleged terrorists only problem. The prosecution told the court today that when arrested the three men had been attempting to create explosives with a sports injury pack, wrongly believing the packs contained ammonium nitrate.
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