Policeman stands alert near British Houses of Parliament

LONDON: Five Pakistani men linked to a terror plot in Britain similar to the attacks on the London transport system in 2005 were arrested days before they planned to strike, a hearing was told Tuesday.

A British intelligence officer, identified only as ZR, told an immigration panel that the group had been planning to stage an atrocity in April last year, but were seized in raids in northwest England.

ZR compared the alleged plot to the July 7, 2005 suicide bombings on a bus and underground trains in the British capital and said they also contained similarities to the 2006 plot to bomb transatlantic jets with liquid bombs.

He refused to reveal details in open court, but said: “The overarching similar fashion was that they were all planning a terrorist attack in the UK under the direction of Al-Qaeda and these were aiming for mass casualties.”

It is the first time the British intelligence services have gone on record about why the men were arrested.

Police were forced to hastily bring forward the arrests after London’s Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick accidentally revealed documents with details of the plan to photographers as he entered a briefing.

The agent told the hearing that Abid Naseer exchanged coded emails with an Al-Qaeda operative called Sohaib while planning the attack.

Naseer, 23, and Ahmed Faraz Khan, who British authorities say are a national security risk, are appealing against deportation to Pakistan.

Another three men – Shoaib Khan, Abdul Wahab Khan and Tariq Ur Rehman – have already been sent back to Pakistan and are appealing to return to Britain.