LONDON, Nov 7: A man who plotted to blow up the New York Stock Exchange and carry out attacks in Britain with gas-filled limousines and a ‘dirty bomb’ was jailed for a minimum of 40 years on Tuesday.

Dhiren Barot, 34, was sentenced by a London court after pleading guilty last month to conspiracy to murder in a case sparked by the arrest of an Al Qaeda figure in Pakistan.

“You are, Mr Barot, a determined and dedicated terrorist, a highly intelligent and extremely dangerous man,” the judge said as he handed down the sentence.

“This conspiracy was designed to strike at the very heart of democracy and the security of the state.”

Barot, who visited Pakistan in early 2004, had submitted the plans for approval by “your Al Qaeda overlords”, the judge said.

“Your plans were to bring indiscriminate carnage and butchery, first in Washington, New York and Newark and thereafter in the United Kingdom on a colossal and unprecedented scale.”

Barot, a Muslim convert, was accused of plotting to blow up the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Prudential in New York, Washington and Newark, New Jersey.—Reuters