LONDON: Three men who plotted to blow up liquid bombs on flights from the UK to North America have been jailed for life, with minimum terms of up to 40 years.

Ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, was jailed for at least 40 years.

Plot “quartermaster”

Assad Sarwar, 29, must serve at least 36 years, while Tanvir Hussain, 28, was jailed for at least

32 years at Woolwich Crown Court. Their aim was a terrorist outrage to “stand alongside” the 9/11

attacks on the US “in history”, the judge said.

Justice Henriques called the plot “the most

grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven within

this jurisdiction”. The

trial heard that at the

time of his arrest, Ahmed Ali, of Walthamstow, east

London, had identified seven US and Canada-bound flights that were to be attacked within a two-and-a-half-hour period.

The judge said that

the plot had “reached

an advanced stage in its development”, with the men in possession of enough chemicals to produce 20 detonators.

The convicted men

displayed no emotion at their sentences, although Ahmed Ali shook his

head and appeared angry and frustrated at earlier sentencing remarks from the judge. “With this plot you sought the attention of the world and now

you have it,” Justice Henriques told him.