India-born convicted for UK terror

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Keywords: Sentence, Life

London: India-born Dhiren Barot was on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting to bomb key British and American targets.

Pronouncing the verdict, the Woolwich Crown Court said the terror plotter must serve at least 40 years.

Barot alias Abu Musa al-Hindi's conspiracy was foiled by the British police when he was arrested in August 2004.

At a hearing on October 12, Dhiren Barot, 34, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder people in terrorist attacks in the UK and US. He had, however, claimed that he had not received any funding or materials from outside.

Barot had told the court that he had plotted to target major financial institutions in the US and set off a radioactive 'dirty bomb' in one of a series of attacks in the UK to kill thousands of people with the intent of creating "another black day for the enemies of Islam".

Barot was born a Hindu and brought up in a north London suburb by middle-class parents before becoming one of the key figures in international Islamic terrorism.

According to London's Telegraph newspaper, Barot had left home at the age of 20 after secretly converting to Islam and only returned when his father had a heart operation several years later.

Among the high-profile targets in the US, Barot had plotted to strike at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup building in Manhattan.