Dhiren Barot, a top Al-Qaeda operative captured in Britain, appeared in court amid heavy security on Monday for sentencing in a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange, the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, and other major financial targets in the US.

The 34-year-old Barot was born a Hindu in India, but was brought to Britain as a toddler. He converted to Islam when he was 20. He is also known as Abu Eisa al-Hindi, Abu Musa al-Hindi, and Issa al-Britani.

That last name figured in the report of the US commission into the September 11, 2001 attacks: it said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 planner, ordered al-Britani to identify bombing targets in New York and sent him to Malaysia to study Islamic extremists there.

Last month Barot pleaded guilty to plotting terror attacks on both sides of the Atlantic and faces a life term. He also faces charges in the US. According to prosecutors, he had left his job as an airline ticket clerk in Britain and attended a terrorist training camp in PoK. He had also attended a terror training camp in the Philippines, made reconnaissance trips to the US in August 2000 and March 2001.