Five men provide Al-Qaida-inspired bomb plotters with everything in London

Safe houses, passports, clothing and food were given to Al-Qaida-inspired bomb plotters, as they hid from police after a failed terrorist attack on London's transit system in 2005.

Photo: Five men provide Al-Qaida-inspired bomb plotters with everything in London

Five men provide Al-Qaida-inspired bomb plotters with everything in London

Siraj Ali, 32, Muhedin Ali, 29, Ismail Abdurahman, 25, Wahbi Mohammed, 25, and Abdul Sherif, 30 are accused of helping the would-be suicide bombers evade authorities after their botched attempt to blow themselves up on three subway trains and a double-decker bus on July 21, 2005.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed, and Hussain Osman went into hiding after their explosive-filled rucksacks failed to explode. They were not all caught until July 29 of that year.

In the interim, the defendants, two of whom were related to the plotters, helped them avoid detection by hiding evidence, finding them places to stay, and passing them travel documents, the prosecutor said.

Prosecutor Max Hill said Sherif lent his brother Osman his passport, who used it to flee the country on a Eurostar train. Osman was staying with Abdurahman before he left the country, Hill said.

Hill accused Wahbi Mohammed, Ramzi's brother, of being with the plotters before they left on the morning of the 21st, and of taking Ramzi's suicide letter.

Siraj Ali lived in an apartment above where Omar lived and was also a close associate of Ibrahim, Hill said, adding that handwritten documents relating to the construction of the bombs were found at Siraj Ali's address.

Hill said Muhedin Ali removed extremist material from Osman's apartment the night before the attacks, and offered him a safe house in London after they failed.