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Air Canada flights to Toronto and Montreal were targets of a well-advanced terrorist plot to blow up at least seven jetliners simultaneously over the Atlantic using bombs stored in drink bottles and assembled aboard the aircraft, according to claims by British prosecutors.

In August, 2006, a group of 19 British men were arrested in London with a bomb laboratory that had the tools to construct the components of liquid-chemical bombs that would be difficult for airport security to detect, stored in Lucozade drink containers with electronic detonators. Eight of those men, including the alleged ringleaders, are on trial this week.

Charges have been dropped against some of the 19, and others are still in the judicial system.

In response to the arrests, passengers on many international flights are now forbidden from carrying large drink bottles, shampoo containers and other liquids and gels on flights. Police evidence showed that the men were on the verge of boarding between seven and 18 aircraft in a mass suicide-bombing mission that could have killed thousands of people in simultaneous mid-Atlantic blasts.

The Canadian dimension of the plot only became public yesterday, when a judge revealed to potential jurors in the trial of the eight men that Canadian flights were allegedly targeted.

"This case concerns an allegation that in 2006, a number of men planned to create bombs which some of their number would take on board passenger aircraft flying from London Heathrow to various destinations in the U.S.A. and Canada," Mr. Justice David Calvert-Smith told a panel of potential jurors at Woolwich Crown Court in London yesterday.

"It is further alleged that the bombs were planned to be set off when the aircraft were airborne and that the bombers and everyone else on board would be killed."

The prosecution's opening arguments in the trial are expected to begin this morning in London. The defendants are denying all allegations, and none of the allegations have been debated in court.

Canadian officials confirmed yesterday that Air Canada flights were among the potential targets, which also included flights to the United States. They said that the plot had involved targeting a number of flights on the same day.

In the days after the Aug. 10, 2006, arrests, Transport Canada officials beefed up security at airports, cancelled some flights and banned most liquids from being carried on flights. But, at the time, they denied that there was any Canadian dimension to the plot.

As recently as Tuesday, senior Ottawa officials expressed surprise at the suggestion that Canada might have been targeted. It appears that the details of the plot, apparently gathered using almost a year's worth of wiretap evidence, were held closely by British officials and not shared with Canada's intelligence or police agencies.

On the day of the 19 arrests, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told reporters that the arrests had been made, with U.S. assistance, before full evidence had been gathered because it had become evident that there was "an accelerated plan" to blow up planes in the immediate future.

"There were very concrete steps under way to execute all elements of this plan. … They had accumulated the capabilities necessary, and they were well on their way" to carrying out the attack, he said. Some British sources said that the alleged terrorists were within 48 hours of carrying out the plan.

"This was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," Scotland Yard official Paul Stephenson said in the aftermath of the arrests.

Canada's Public Safety Ministry is not commenting on the matter. "As you know, the case is before the courts, so it would not be appropriate to comment further," said Melisa Léclerc, a spokeswoman for Minister Stockwell Day. "As the trial unfolds, more information will become public."

Yesterday, an Air Canada official also declined to comment. "Because it's currently before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment," said Peter Fitzpatrick, a spokesman.

"However, Air Canada always has, and will continue to co-operate with security agencies everywhere to ensure the safety and well-being of our customers."

Facing conspiracy charges of murder and violence against an aircraft are London-area residents Ahmed Abdullah Ali, 27; Assad Sarwar, 27; Tanvir Hussain, 27; Umar Islam (born Brian Young), 29; Arafat Waheed Khan, 26; Ibrahim Savant, 27; Waheed Zaman, 23; and Mohammed Gulzar, 27.

All eight have pleaded not guilty.