November 7, 2006
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Gregg W. Bortz at 610-861-9734 or 202-222-5118
(pdf version)

British terror plotter sentenced; Congressman Dent cites good intelligence for foiling Al Qaeda plans

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (PA-15), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, today commented on the sentencing in London of an Al Qaeda operative who planned to blow up buildings in Great Britain and the United States. A British judge sentenced Dhiren Barot to at least 40 years in prison for his plot to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank and landmark London hotels:

“Dhiren Barot is perfect example of the enemy we face today. He coldly calculated mass murder and destruction. He didn’t live in some cave in Afghanistan; he lived in a London neighborhood. The judge who sentenced him said his plot was sophisticated and would ‘bring indiscriminant carnage, bloodshed and butchery’ to ‘hundreds if not thousands of wholly innocent men, women and children.’

“Catching Dhiren Barot before he carried out his plots is a credit to what good intelligence in cooperation with law enforcement can accomplish, and to the importance of international cooperation among our allies. There are more terrorists like Dhiren Barot and we should not rest for a second in our efforts to stop them.”

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