Teenager appears in court accused of planning terror attack on London landmarks including Buckingham Palace and Oxford Street

 A teenager appeared in court on Tuesday accused of planning to carry out a mass-casualty terror attack on London landmarks including Buckingham Palace and Oxford Street.
        nHaroon Ali-Syed, 19, from Hounslow in west London, attempted to buy a bomb over the internet as well as guns, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told.
He had attempted to obtain bank loans to pay for the weaponry and tried to contact a bombmaker to build a nail bomb. The court heard Ali-Syed was “trying to carry out a terrorist attack on the scale of 7/7”.
Ali-Syed was arrested on September 8 on suspicion of a terror offence after a five-month police operation.
It is alleged that between April 2016 and September 2016, Ali-Syed attempted to obtain weapons online, including an explosive device, with a view to launching an assault on a busy area of the capital.

Shoppers on Oxford Street Credit: Oli Scarff/ Getty Images

It is believed that Oxford Street and military bases were among the targets the defendant had allegedly considered as a location for the attack. Buckingham Palace was another possible target.
An internet search for “most crowded place in London” had produced the result Buckingham Palace.
Ali-Syed was charged under the 2006 Terrorism Act with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct in preparation for giving effect to that intention between 12 April and 9 September this year.
During an 11-minute hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday afternoon, Ali-Syed, dressed in a grey long-sleeved sweat shirt and grey tracksuit trousers, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address.
District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe told the defendant he was to be remanded in custody until a hearing on September 19 at the Old Bailey.
Judge Roscoe said: “I am sending this case to be dealt with at the Central Criminal Court, which is the Old Bailey. All future hearings will be at that court.”
Two other men arrested at the same time have been released on police bail pending further investigation.
Prosecutor Thomas Halpin told the court: “The allegation is that he was planning a terrorist attack in the UK.”
In an unrelated case, it emerged a 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a terrorism offence west London.
Scotland Yard said the suspect was arrested by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command in west London on Monday afternoon.
The man was arrested at around 4.10pm on suspicion of “possessing an article for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism”.
The man remains in custody, arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, and a search is under way at an address in Kensington.