Three to be retried for transatlantic jet bomb plot

England's public prosecutor said he would seek a retrial of three men accused of involvement in a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, following a hung jury in their court case.

England's public prosecutor said he would seek a retrial of three men accused of involvement in a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, following a hung jury in their court case.

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The defendants are to face a third trial on the charge of conspiracy to murder, the Crown Prosecution Service said, believing it was in the public interest and there remained a realistic prospect of conviction.

Three other men were found guilty on Monday of plotting to blow up at least seven transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives, which prosecutors said would have been a "terrorist event of global proportions".

The plot, foiled in August 2006, triggered wide-ranging new rules on carrying liquids on commercial aircraft. "I have concluded that, in this exceptional case, it is in the public interest to seek a further retrial," director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer said in a statement.

The three men facing a retrial are northeast London residents Ibrahim Savant, 28, Arafat Waheed Khan, 28, and 25-year-old Waheed Zaman.

"I am satisfied that, notwithstanding the failure of two juries to agree a verdict, there remains a realistic prospect of a conviction against each defendant on the charge of conspiracy to murder," the statement said.