Time for a spot of comparing and contrasting:

‘Suicide plan to crash BA flight’ was heard by MI5

TWO Islamist extremists discussed crashing a British Airways flight with 30 suicide bombers on board, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

In a conversation bugged by MI5 officers, one of them describes an aircraft suicide attack as a “good idea”.

Omar Khyam, 24, and Jawad Akbar, 22, are accused of conspiring with others to cause an explosion at a high-profile British target. They were arrested in March 2004 after surveillance by security services.

The pair talked about infiltrating utility companies and launching attacks on water, gas and power cables simultaneously, and also referred to a friend who had access to all areas at Gatwick airport.

And in one discussion covertly recorded at Mr Akbar’s flat in Uxbridge, West London, three weeks before their arrests, Mr Khyam is heard to say: “It’s just ideas coming out. Like the last idea to hijack the plane, it’s just an idea, we could have done it.

Jury told of ‘plane hijack plot’

The jury in the trial of seven men accused of plotting a bomb campaign in the UK has heard of a plan to hijack and crash a British Airways plane.

The alleged plot was heard in a bugged conversation recorded by the security service, MI5, and played to jurors.

A voice says: “The beauty is they don’t have to fly into a building, just crash the flipping thing.”

Prosecutors say Omar Khyam was speaking to Jawad Akbar. The men and five others deny conspiring to cause explosions.

The voice said to be Mr Khyam’s discusses a plot to use 30 “brothers” prepared to commit suicide on a British Airways plane.

Plans to attack electricity, gas and water supplies are also discussed in the conversation, which the Old Bailey jurors were told had been recorded in Mr Akbar’s flat in Uxbridge, west of London.