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| Britain |
| Terror conviction for tunnel man |
| 2005-09-23 |
| A British Muslim convert detained at the Channel Tunnel in October 2003 has been found guilty of two charges of having articles for use in terrorism. Andrew Rowe, 34, was convicted for having instructions on using a mortar, and secret code on a piece of paper. The jury could not reach a verdict on a third charge of having articles for use in terrorism relating to socks with traces of explosives on them. Rowe, from Maida Vale, west London, had denied the charges. Prosecutors will decide this afternoon whether there should be a retrial on the third charge. The jury had earlier been told they could return a majority verdict. Jurors had been deliberating for a day and were told verdicts on which at least 10 agreed would now be accepted. Following the convictions, director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald QC said: "Although there was no direct link between Andrew Rowe and a particular terrorist act, possession of those items together with other supporting evidence was sufficient for a jury to conclude that he had them for the purpose of terrorism." Rowe was arrested at the Channel Tunnel after a trip to Germany in 2003. A pair of socks were found in his luggage that were rolled into a ball with a cord attached and could have been used to clean a mortar, prosecutors said. Rowe said he used it for martial arts kicks and that traces of explosives were from when he used the socks as gloves to unload ammunition while carrying out humanitarian work in Bosnia in 1995. Hand-written instructions on how to fire a mortar and the secret code were found at addresses in London and Birmingham linked to Rowe. The code substituted names of mobile phones for words including money, trouble-police, weapon, airport and army base, prosecutor Mark Ellison said. There were also codes for explosive materials, making it a "shopping list for terrorism", Mr Ellison said. He also said Rowe had travelled extensively after converting to Islam, including to places of conflict, and had had four passports in seven years. Rowe told the court he had converted to Islam at the age of 19 in a bid to alter his lifestyle after taking and selling drugs. |
| Posted by:Steve |