Coded calls from Brooklyn jail: How Iran operative directed terror plots in Europe, US

A suspected Iran-backed terror plot targeting a British airbase used by the US military was allegedly being coordinated, in part, from a New York prison, where an accused operative used coded messages to communicate with associates, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.The accused, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, allegedly used calls with his mother and sister to relay instructions to operatives outside prison.US prosecutors claim the messages were intended to keep plans for an attack on RAF Fairford in western England alive.The indictment, reported by the Associated Press, provides fresh details about the suspected plot that came to light on September 27, when three suspicious vans were spotted heading towards the air base.

Several men were subsequently detained on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences.Al-Saadi was already behind bars at New York's Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn when the alleged communications took place.