LONDON (AFP) - A British court found on Monday three men guilty of plotting to blow up at least seven transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives, in what would have been a terrorist event of global proportions. Ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali was found guilty of conspiring to murder thousands in the plot, whose discovery in 2006 triggered wide-ranging new rules on carrying liquids on commercial aircraft. Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, were found guilty on the same charges of plotting to carry out bombings on aircraft flying from Londons Heathrow airport to the United States and Canada. This was a calculated and sophisticated plot to create a terrorist event of global proportions, the CPS said after the verdict. The men intended to bring down seven aircraft in a short space of time, indiscriminately killing hundreds of innocent people, perhaps more if they had succeeded in activating their devices whilst over cities, it added. The trio were previously found guilty of conspiracy to murder, but the jury in their first trial could not decide on charges that they had plotted to kill people by bringing down airliners. They will be sentenced on Monday. Home Secretary Alan Johnson hailed the verdicts, saying: I am pleased that the jury has recognised that there was a plot to bomb transatlantic flights and that three people have been convicted of that plot. Woolwich Crown Court heard the plans were drawn up in Pakistan and passed on to Ali, who returned to Britain to assemble a terror cell, gather material and identify targets. However, police had him under surveillance and bugged his flat in east London where he met others to build the homemade bombs. The plan was to smuggle explosives made of hydrogen peroxide onto the planes in soft drink bottles. Refilled batteries would carry the chemical detonator, with the bombs set off using a charge from a light bulb filament. They would have been assembled and detonated in mid-air by a team of suicide bombers, causing untold damage. Police believe the design was thought up by a bombmaker with links to the al-Qaeda network, who has never been identified. Ali, who was born in Britain, was inspired by suicide bombers who attacked Londons transport system on July 7, 2005, killing 52 people, prosecutors said. He is thought to have finalised the plans during a six-month trip to Pakistan in 2005, and intended to teach non-Muslims a lesson that they will never forget. The jury found Ibrahim Savant, 28, Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, and Waheed Zaman, 24, not guilty of the airline plot. Donald Stewart-Whyte, 23, was found not guilty of both conspiracy to murder on aircraft and conspiracy to murder. After 54 hours of deliberations, the jurors failed to reach a verdict on the role in the plot of Umar Islam, 31, although he was convicted of the second charge of conspiracy to murder.