Businessman 'willing player' in missile plot

A British businessman accused of attempting to smuggle a shoulder-fired missile into the US was a “ready and willing player” in a terrorist plot, a government prosecutor said at the start of closing arguments.

Assistant US Attorney Brian Howe opened his remarks at the trial in Newark, New Jersey, by reciting a litany of terror-related statements by Hemant Lakhani, who praised the September 11 2001 attacks in a surveillance tape, saying: “Bin Laden has straightened them somewhat.”