Mass murder plotter sentenced to 40 yrs in prison

London, Nov 7 (UNI) A court here today sentenced an Indian-born British al-Qaeda chief to minimum 40 years in prison for plotting mass murder in the country and for planning to blow up the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange.

The convict, Dhiren Barot, 34, was sentenced after pleading guilty last month to conspiracy to murder in a case sparked by the arrest of an al Qaeda figure in Pakistan.

Barot, a Muslim convert, was also accused of plotting to blow up the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Prudential in New York, Washington and Newyoark, New Jersey.

The British al-Qa'eda chief was raised in a north London suburb by middle-class parents before becoming a key figure in international Islamic terrorism.

Barot suggested attacking the Tube trains as they passed under the Thames. ''That would cause pandemonium,'' family friends told The Daily Telegraph, adding Barot's father was a disciplinarian who expected his family to follow traditional Indian values.

He left home at the age of 20. His father thought he was living in the North and working as a travel agent. But, on the contrary, he was living less than a mile away, laying his hideous plans.

''I had dreams for him. I wanted to buy him a house, I wanted him to get married and have children,'' his father told friends recently.

''That won't happen now and I don't think I'll ever see him again.'' MORE UNI XC KD RN2012