Hiding the 'Mother of Satan': Inside The Largest Counterterrorism Investigation In History

[Nevilledog]

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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/terrorism-mother-of-satan-england-1264991/


Assad Sarwar needed to hide his expanding cache of hydrogen peroxide. He couldn’t risk having all his chemicals and gear inside his home, because he still lived in his family’s semi detached house in the town of High Wycombe, halfway between London and Oxford. He had been buying bottles of it at health food stores in and around England and Wales at a steady clip, but he now had to store it somewhere off-site.

It was the summer of 2006, and Sarwar was serving as the quartermaster for what was quickly becoming the largest terrorist conspiracy in the post 9/11 era. He, along with several men in London, were trying to build several explosives for a mission that would devastate the West. It was an extremely tense time, especially for the British; less than a year beforehand, two other Pakistan-trained al Qaeda terrorist cells of suicide attackers had struck the Underground during the morning rush hour. The first became the worst terror strike in London’s history, killing 52 commuters and injuring hundreds more, and is now known as the “7/7 attacks.” The second, where a separate cell also struck transportation targets, literally fizzled when all the suicide bombers’ explosives failed to detonate because they had botched the chemical recipe. But what was especially concerning was that both terrorist cells had built their weapons and carried out their plans—completely under the noses of the authorities. They simply had little idea what these cells were up to, until they saw it on television.

So on the last day of July, Sarwar drove into town and picked up a thermometer, which was necessary to monitor the temperature of explosives like Triacetone Triperoxide, sometimes known as the “Mother of Satan”, Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, as well as three miniature light bulbs. He then stopped by a local Asda supermarket to pick up a shovel and some biscuits. He also headed to the local Woolworths, where he purchased a large silver case with a solid retractable back and a black seal around the middle. He then placed all of his stuff into the boot of his car.

That same day, he placed an order for four glass containers, conical flasks, beakers, and a measuring cylinder from the Hop Shop store in Plymouth. He needed this to manufacture the hmtd that would serve as the spark for a larger explosion. Al Qaeda’s mastermind in Pakistan, Rashid Rauf had been adamant the last time they met in South Asia that he needed concentrated hydrogen peroxide at 80 percent mixed with some aluminum powder, along with an hmtd detonator.

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