Quite how Dhiren Barot changed from an average schoolboy living in north west London to one of the most "senior and ruthless" terrorists British security services have come across is an example of the persuasive power of radical Islam. He grew up in a quiet London suburb after being brought to this country from Baroda, India, shortly after he was born in December 1971. He attended the sought-after Kingsbury High School where he was a studious but average pupil. Friends recall that he planned a career in hotel management and had normal teenage interests such as fashion and music. He left school in 1988 and obtained a City and Guilds qualification in tourism before going on to work in various travel agencies and hotels.His only long-term job was as a ticketing clerk for an airline based in Piccadilly, where at one point he requested a transfer to Heathrow, but was turned down. Police also discovered that at one time he worked as a porter for a luxury group of apartments in London, and may have also had a job with a phone company.
| After attending a lecture by the now-jailed cleric Abu Hamza, where he was told of the Mujahidin and the concept of jihad, Barot began to frequently discuss how to help "oppressed" Islamic people abroad. |
In September 1995, he left his ticketing clerk job, saying that he was going on a prolonged trip overseas.
| His journey took him to Pakistan and later to a terrorist training camp in Kashmir. There, he was given instruction in using weapons and explosives, a pattern that was to be repeated in a later trip to the Philippines. |
When he returned to the UK it is thought he established links with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thought to be the "principal architect" of 9/11. In the biographical section of a book he wrote in 1999, entitled The Army of Madinah In Kashmir, written under the alias Esa Al-Hindi, it said: "After training and spending time with the Mujahidin, he witnessed a side of Islam which cannot be found in the classrooms. It is the Islam that is felt by living and dying in the cause of Allah; loving Muslims and hating the enemies of Allah. Once this lifestyle was instilled in his blood, he began his career as a Mujahid."
Security sources say that he rose to become a leading al-Qaeda figure and one of the network's highest-ranking operatives in Britain. Security sources also allege that Barot enjoyed the confidence of key figures in the terror network to such an extent that he was entrusted with the planning of major operations.
The way al-Qaeda is structured, with a disparate collection of cells loosely allied to each other by their devotion to a radical interpretation of Islam, makes it near impossible to accurately define BarotÂ’s place in the networkÂ’s hierarchy.
| According to counter-terrorism sources, the conviction of Barot was "one of the most significant steps in the fight against terrorism in the UK since 9/11". |
"He is one of the most senior well-trained and ruthless terrorists that we have dealt with," a source said. "His career as a terrorist stretches back to at least 1995, well before 9/11, the invasion of Afghanistan, or indeed the invasion of Iraq. This is one of the first occasions that the British public will be able to see for themselves the scale of the threat we face. His plans, had he not been arrested, would have caused the death of hundreds if not thousands of innocent people. His arrest and conviction means that al-Qaeda has lost an experienced, utterly dedicated and vicious terrorist."
| Security sources believe that Barot was probably the person identified in the 9/11 CommissionÂ’s report as Issa al-Britani, which was an alias he often used. |
He was extremely well organised and clearly had considerable, independent financial backing. He was trusted by the al-Qaeda leadership to conduct their research and present the results back in Pakistan. It was not until 2004 that Scotland YardÂ’s Anti-Terrorist Branch and BritainÂ’s intelligence agencies became aware that a senior al-Qaeda operative was working within the UK, and it took several months to identify that man as Barot.