28 February 2011 VOA News A British court on Monday convicted a former British Airways employee of plotting with a US-born extremist cleric to blow up an airliner.
The Woolwich Crown Court found Rajib Karim, originally of Bangladesh, guilty of four counts of planning and abetting terrorist attacks while working as a computer expert with British Airways.
Karim shared details of his contacts inside the British carrier in a series of encrypted messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, who proposed the use of suicide bombers or mail bombs on planes headed to the United States.
Al-Awlaki is a Muslim cleric based in Yemen associated with al-Qaeda.
The prosecution described Karim as an Islamic extremist closely linked to Jamaat ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, an organization committed to Islamic rule in Bangladesh.
Karim already had admitted to fundraising for terror groups abroad.
Educated in Britain, Karim moved back to Bangladesh in 2002. He returned to Britain in 2006 and settled in Newcastle with his wife and child.
Karim was arrested in February 2010, after applying for cabin crew training.
The Woolwich Crown Court found him guilty of planning to blow up an aircraft, sharing information of use to known terrorist al-Awlaki, offering to help financial or disruptive attacks on British Airways, and gaining a job in Britain for terrorist purposes.
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