Airline worker aimed to ‘kill hundreds’ on jet
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LONDON — A jury convicted a former British Airways computer specialist of plotting with U.S.-born extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki to blow up an airplane in an attack intended to kill hundreds of people.
Rajib Karim, a 31-year-old Bangladeshi man, was found guilty Monday of four counts of engaging in preparation for terrorist attacks.
He already had pleaded guilty to five other terrorism offenses, but denied plotting an attack in Britain.
A jury deliberated for 16 hours before agreeing with prosecutors who said Karim used his position at the airline to conspire with al-Awlaki, a notorious radical preacher associated with al-Qaida and thought to be hiding in Yemen.
At one point, encouraged by al-Awlaki, he applied for training as a flight attendant.
Colin Gibbs, a counterterrorism lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Karim “was plotting with the cleric to use his job at BA to kill hundreds of innocent people.”
“The most chilling element of this case is probably the fact that Karim tried to enroll as cabin crew and anyone can imagine how horrific the consequences of this could have been, had he succeeded,” Gibbs said…….. continued
Read original story at MSNBC.com
As an airline attendant I have had a couple of unusual circumstances in the last couple of years (I have been flying 28 yrs) I have had people that normally would never speak to me (men from certain cultures that normally do not ask me any personal questions) ask me how to get a job as an attendant … I have replied very vaguely however I have reported the incidents. Please remember if something feels not quite right it is not quite right! They are trying every way they can!