New York -
Al-Qaeda documents recovered from the compound of Osama bin Laden which referred to planned terror plots in Britain, Europe and Russia have been presented at the trial of a man accused of plotting to attack the New York subway and a Manchester shopping centre.
The documents include correspondence from a senior al-Qaeda operative to Bin Laden and mention a plan to attack the US embassy in Moscow.
The materials were seized by US special forces soldiers who raided Bin Laden's compound in May 2011 and killed the al-Qaeda founder.
They have been presented at the trial of Abid Naseer, 28, who has denied the charges and has been defending himself in a court in Brooklyn, New York.
Among the documents was a letter sent to Bin Laden by senior aide Saleh Al-Somali. While it did not name Mr Naseer, the letter made a reference to the arrest of alleged al-Qaeda operatives.
Prosecutors said the letter showed the intentions of al-Qaeda.
“We sent a number of brothers to Russia and Britain,” the letter read, said prosecutor Zainab Ahmad.
Those sent to the UK were given free rein to decide what to do when they got there.
“The brother determines what targets in line with what materials he can get,” said the letter, which was described as a “report on the external operations”.
Bin Laden was then told things had seemed to be going smoothly, but there was concern over news that a number of unknown terrorist suspects had been held by British police.
“The brothers did not face any security problems other than what was mentioned on the news a few days ago about the arrest of several individuals in Britain. We have not ascertained if these had anything to do with us,” the letter said.
The documents stressed the need to launch attacks in the US, saying this was “essential? to reaching our objective”.
It also warned al-Qaeda operatives not to be too quick to press send on an email, stressing that “attention should be paid to the danger of sending dangerous secrets”.
Mr Naseer was the leader of the Manchester cell of a broader al-Qaeda conspiracy to attack civilians in the UK, New York and Denmark, prosecutors have said.
He was monitored during a case dubbed by MI5 as “Operation Pathway” and the agents said he was given the code name “Small Panel”.
Other suspects were given code names such as “Happy Skater”, “'Glass Pendant” and “Undercurrent”.
Mr Naseer was one of 12 people arrested in Britain in 2009 amid suspicions they were members of an al-Qaeda terror cell.
After no explosives were found, the men were released without charge but ordered to leave the country.
Mr Naseer was deported to the US two years ago. Prosecutor rested their case yesterday and Mr Naseer now plans to take the stand in his defence as the case continues.
In a separate development, three men were charged yesterday with conspiring to support Isis, including two who planned to travel to Syria to fight.
Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, of Kazakhstan, was arrested at John F Kennedy international airport in New York, where authorities said he was attempting to board a flight to Turkey.
Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, of Uzbekistan, had previously purchased a ticket for a March flight to Istanbul. Abror Habibov, 30, of Uzbekistan, was accused of helping to fund Mr Saidakhmetov's efforts.
The Independent