British terror suspects charged in a plot linked to security alerts at financial targets in New York, New Jersey and Washington have made their first court appearance inside a high security prison.
Each of the eight men was flanked by two armed guards as they were brought into a court at London's Belmarsh prison. They were held in the dock behind glass.
Journalists said they could not recall such tight security. A police helicopter hovered overhead as the men were driven to the prison in police vans with armed escorts.
The suspects were detained until they appear in a week at Britain's Old Bailey main criminal court.
They will be given a chance at a later date to enter a plea to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and to use explosives, chemicals or radioactive materials to cause disruption, fear or injury.
One, Dhiren Barot (32), was also accused of having plans for four financial targets that were the subject of US alerts - the Prudential building in New Jersey, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup headquarters in New York, and the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
The other suspects are Omar Abdur Rehman (20), Zia Ul Haq (25), Abdul Aziz Jalil (31), Nadeem Tarmohamed (26), Mohammed Naveed Bhatti (24), Quaisir Shaffi (25), and Junade Feroze (28).
US officials have said they believe one of the men may be a top al Qaeda operative in Britain.
A ninth man arrested with them also appeared on charges of possessing an illegal firearm. He pleaded not guilty and was freed on bail.
Britain has arrested more than 600 terror suspects since the September 11 attacks but has charged fewer than 100 and convicted only 15 of terrorism offences.
The raids two weeks ago - carried out in evident haste after the US alert, with some suspects pulled from shops and others held in a high-speed car chase - had a more urgent tone than previous anti-terrorism swoops.
US officials said they imposed the alert in the United States because they had discovered reports showing detailed plans of the financial targets, following the July arrest in Pakistan of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan (25).
Pakistani intelligence sources say Khan, an al Qaeda communications expert, cooperated with the authorities to help catch his al Qaeda contacts abroad.
But the undercover sting operation was compromised when his name appeared in US newspapers the morning after Washington announced its alert. Britain swooped on the suspects the next day in coordinated raids across the country.