THE court was told that the seven Muslims, who all grew up in the UK, helped draw up plans to strike at America and the UK with synchronised explosions at iconic buildings.

Dhiren Barot also wanted to set off a radioactive 'dirty bomb' to cripple the country and cause billions of pounds of damage.

The cell researched explosives and building structure, supplied Barot with false identities and money and acted as bodyguards and chauffeurs.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said: 'Barot's plan was to murder innocent civilians by way of co-ordinated explosive attacks.

Barot, a Hindu-born Indian who converted to Islam in the early 1990s, was schooled in terrorism at training camps in Kashmir, Pakistan and the Phillippines between 1995 and 1999.

He began drawing up plans for spectacular attacks on the US more than a year before 9/11 and made his first reconnaissance trip to America in August 2000 with Nadeem Tarmohamed.

Barot returned to New York and Washington with Shaffi in March 2001, and the pair had coffee on top of the Twin Towers which were to be destroyed six months later.

In April 2001 Barot and Tarmohamed, who had flown out to replace the TB-stricken Shaffi, made a video of proposed targets in New York.

The shaky film footage focuses on the Twin Towers and one of the pair is heard making an explosion noise.

Barot's five chosen targets were International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup building, and the Prudential building in Newark.

One of the methods discussed included using hijacked petrol tankers or passenger jets.

Barot's plan was postponed after the success of 9/11 but in 2003 Barot decided to turn his attention to Britain.

One of his documents listed potential targets including the hotels The London Marriott, the Churchill Intercontinental and the Berkeley.

In early 2004 Barot finalised the Gas Limos Project' which would involve packing limousines with gas cylinders and explosives and detonating them in car parks underneath buildings.

He then travelled to Pakistan in March 2004 to seek approval and funding from the Al Qaeda leadership.

Barot was identified by the Security Service in June 2004 and over the next six weeks surveillance was placed on all eight suspects.

They were all arrested on the same day, August 4, 2004, two weeks after the plan for the attacks were found on a laptop in Pakistan during an anti-terrorist operation.

A stash of material relating to the plot was found at Bhatti's home and garage in 78 Bolton Road, Harrow, Middlesex, including copies of his 'Gas Limos Project' and research papers.