BA airline worker was al-Qaeda sleeper plotting attacks on aircraft in UK and abroad
AN undercover Islamic terrorist got a job with British Airways to gather information and carry out a terrorist atrocity, a court heard yesterday.
Shunning links with extremist groups to avoid attracting attention, IT worker Rajib Karim, 31, allegedly planned to blow up an aircraft heading to the USA.
Woolwich crown court heard that Karim came from Bangladesh in 2006 planning a “spectacular attack” and went deep undercover joining a gym, playing football and hiding his extreme views.
The sleeper joined BA in 2007 working and living in Newcastle. Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said the post “through a terrorist’s eyes” was “just about as good a job as could be obtained”. After gaining access to computer systems, he and his brother Tehzeeb started passing information to radical al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.