It might have been the biggest act of mass murder since the attacks on America in 2001: at least seven airliners flying from London to cities in North America would have been blown up by liquid explosives smuggled on board as soft drinks. Thousands would have died had the plotters not been arrested in August 2006.rnThat is how American and British officials recount Operation Overt. But on September 8th, when a London jury returned its verdict on eight British Muslims charged with the plot, it could not agree that the targets were civilian aircraft. Instead it convicted three men on vaguer charges of conspiring "to murder persons unknown", and was stuck on whether four others were guilty of the same offence. The eighth defendant, Mohammed Gulzar, al-Qaeda's alleged emissary, was acquitted.
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