Security services intercepted communications between the potential attackers, who were planning an attack with a highly toxic chemical called osmium tetroxide, the BBC reported. “The plotters were thought to be sympathetic to the aims of Al-Qaeda and the intended target was believed to be British civilians,” it said. Police in London however declined to comment, with a spokesman saying: “We’re not prepared to discuss” the reports. Osmium tetroxide is used mainly in research laboratories which can attack soft human tissue and could blind anyone who breathed in its fumes or cause them to choke to death in agony, British and US press reports said.
