Briton in court on missile plot

Spy chiefs have foiled a plot by a British arms dealer to sell a surface-to-air missile to terrorists after he smuggled it into America.

President Bush was to be the target for the missile as he flew in his personal plane, Air Force One, it was claimed last night.

The middle-aged British man, of Indian descent, was described as being part of "a big arms deal" by FBI sources.

He is due to appear at a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, today.

After arriving in the US on a flight from Heathrow he was met by an undercover agent posing as a Muslim extremist.

On an FBI tape recording of their meeting the "buyer" says: "I like this missile because it can bring down a commercial plane."

The Briton then reportedly says: "Why don't we go for Air Force One, the President's plane? I can get another 50 of these missile - that is enough to bring down Air Force One."

The weapon was transported into America aboard a ship in a container marked "medical supplies".

It was then stored in a warehouse in Baltimore in Maryland where it was supposed to pass into the hands of terrorists.

However, FBI agents, working with MI5, MI6 and Russian authorities, uncovered the plot five months ago and kept the dealer under surveillance.

Officials in America last night denied that a direct strike against the President had been planned.

However, they did admit that the weapon could have been used to kill hundreds of civilians by shooting down a passenger jet.

"The British citizen involved thought he was selling the missile to terrorists and the presumption is that they were going to use it against an airliner, but no particular airliner was ever mentioned," said the Justice Department sources.

The British man flew into New York with his wife on a British Airways flight on Sunday afternoon.

He was tailed by FBI agents and then arrested yesterday evening. Intelligence sources said they expected to arrest two people who were due to buy the weapon today.

Said to be an established arms dealer, the Briton is thought to have bought the weapon from a corrupt middle-manager in a Russian arms factory.

He was detected in St Petersburg and Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised the FBI to have an undercover agent sent to Russia.

Concerns about terrorists using lightweight rocket launchers to take down commercial airliners increased in November after an unsuccessful attack on a chartered Israeli jet at Mombasa airport in Kenya.

Officials believe Al Qaeda launched the attack, which coincided with a bomb blast at a nearby hotel.

Over the last 15 months, there have been three foiled attempts by groups linked to Al Qaeda to shoot down planes carrying Western or Israeli passengers.

The Russian Igla missile is one of the most advanced missiles of its type in the world. Fired from the shoulder, it can shoot down a plane at a range of more than three miles.

It can be bought openly on the internet in Russia and was allegedly offered by the dealer for around £65,000.

Jim O'Halloran, from Jane's Land- Based Air Defence, told the BBC: "To use something like an Igla as a terrorist would be stepping up your terrorist war to a different level.

"You would certainly be going on to almost a war level. This is not your standard terrorist type weapon."

The Igla, named after the Russian word for "needle", uses infra-red technology to deliver a 2.6lb warhead.

Immediately before hitting its target, its computer shifts its target-zone forward from the airplane's exhaust towards the central fuselage area - causing maximum destruction.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has meant that the missiles are currently for sale on the arms black market.