From ticketing clerk to terrorist

The Daily Mirror correspondents Jeff Edwards and Tom Parry report that the boss of a British al-Qaeda cell who plotted to kill thousands was formerly employed by Air Malta in London. From The Daily Mirror:

Dhiren Barot, 34, planned back-to-back attacks to bring maximum death and destruction. His aim was to wipe out hundreds of people in London with a radioactive blast then watch thousands more die from cancer due to the fallout....Barot, a chief planner for Osama bin Laden who answered to terrorist masters in Pakistan, also plotted to detonate limos packed with gas cylinders and explosives parked under top London hotels, including the Savoy and the Berkeley..

The one-time Air Malta ticketing clerk wrote of the Thames' plot: "Imagine the chaos that would be caused if a powerful explosion were to rip through here and actually rupture the river itself. "It would cause pandemonium what with the explosions, flooding, drowning, etc. that would occur." He had similar plans for high-profile buildings in New York, Washington DC and Newark in New Jersey. Barot had admitted conspiracy to cause mass murder and appeared before a sentencing hearing at Woolwich crown court, South East London, yesterday..

He got a job with Air Malta in London and in 1992, aged 20, he converted to Islam. By 1995 he was becoming a militant and spent months at a terrorist training camp in Kashmir, India, and kept a diary of his experiences, the court heard. Mr Lawson said: "The book revealed he had undertaken intensive training in the use of weapons like the Kalashnikov AK47 and grenades and had received detailed advice in the use of poisons." His plan was to create "another black day for the enemies of Islam and a victory for the Muslims". He travelled to Pakistan in early 2004 to get approval and cash for his plots. He was an expert in counter surveillance and knew police were watching him. He once drove from London to South Wales to use a internet cafe. In London, he moved address every few weeks to avoid detection. Barot used false identities and posed as a student to use university libraries which held architects' plans of key buildings and to download information on chemicals...

Update: Air Malta's response; The Guardian says that Barot had not worked properly since he left his job at Air Malta in 1995, apart from a brief period of employment as a night porter in London.