US witness tells of plot to poison soccer beer

LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S. informant, testifying at the trial of seven Britons accused of planning bombings in the UK, told a London court on Friday one of the suspects had discussed poisoning beer for sale at British soccer matches.

Mohammed Babar, 31, a Pakistan-born American who has admitted terrorism-related offences in New York, said Waheed Mahmood also suggested setting up mobile hamburger vans and poisoning the food before handing it over.

Babar is the key prosecution witness against the British suspects, accused of planning to use ammonium nitrate fertilizer to make bombs for use against targets such as pubs and clubs.

He has admitted in closed U.S. hearings to being an accomplice and trying to acquire the ingredients for what U.S. authorities call "the British Bomb plot," the court was told.

Babar said that Mahmood had raised the poison plots during discussions in Pakistan with himself and two of the other defendants, Anthony Garcia and Salahuddin Amin.

He said they could get jobs as barmen at soccer stadiums and use syringes to poison cans of beer.