Men from West Midlands had planned to target English Defence League rally in Dewsbury but arrived after it had finished

Six would-be terrorists have pleaded guilty to plotting an attack on a far-right English Defence League demonstration with a home-made bomb, guns, knives and a machete.

The men, all from the West Midlands, had planned to target EDL supporters who were holding a rally in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on 30 June last year. Police believe the mission was only abandoned when the group turned up after the EDL demonstration had finished.

Omar Khan, 28, Mohammed Saud, 22, Jewel Uddin, 27, Zohaib Ahmed, 22, and Anzal Hussain, 24, pleaded guilty at Woolwich crown court to engaging in preparation for acts of terrorism. A sixth man, Mohammed Hasseen, 23, pleaded guilty to the same offence and possessing a document likely to be of use to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

All the defendants, except Hasseen, had travelled in two cars from Birmingham to Dewsbury on the afternoon of 30 June with an arsenal of weapons hidden in holdalls in the boot of one of the cars.

Top row, from left: Omar Khan, Jewel Uddin, Mohammed Hasseen. Second row: Anzal Hussain, Mohammed Saud, Zohaib Ahmed. Photograph: West Midlands police/PA



They also had 10 A4 printouts of a document addressed to David Cameron and the Queen that set out in chilling terms their determination to take revenge on the "enemies of Allah" – the "English Drunkards League".

It stated: "We love death more than you love life … What we did today was a direct retaliation of your insulting of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) & also in retaliation of your crusade against Islam/Muslims on a global scale. It is of the greatest honour for us to do what we did."

The men refused to answer questions during police interviews and detectives say they cannot rule out the possibility they had been planning a suicide attack.

The men, who sat impassively together, changed their pleas and admitted their involvement via videolink. They will be sentenced on 6 June.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, the recorder of Greenwich, told the men: "This will attract significant custody. There is no doubt about that."

Marcus Beale, the assistant chief constable of West Midlands police, with responsibility for its counter-terrorism unit, said the six were extremely dangerous and could have maimed, killed and brought misery which would "have transmitted fear and anxieties to our communities".

He said: "I am really pleased these six have pleaded guilty. They are clearly a radicalised group with extremely dangerous intent. Their intent was to recklessly cause mayhem and probably mass injuries."

The EDL has held a number of virulently anti-Muslim demonstrations in towns and cities across the country since it was formed in 2009. The rally in Dewsbury had been due to finish at 3pm or 4pm but was cut short because the group's leader, Stephen Lennon, did not speak.

When the would-be attackers arrived at 4pm, the EDL supporters – numbering between 400 and 700, according to the police – had already left. The men drove around the town to the sites where the demonstration had been held and then, after stopping at a chip shop and mosque, made their way back to Birmingham.

The aborted plot may never have been discovered had it not been for a traffic officer who decided to carry out a routine stop on one of the cars – driven by the suspected bomb-maker Khan – as it headed back to Birmingham along the M1 motorway.

The gang had given the wrong registration number when they purchased car insurance over the phone earlier that day.

The traffic officer seized the car and took Khan and his passenger, Uddin, to Meadow Hall train station so they could get back to Birmingham. Meanwhile the car was taken to a pound where it was locked up for the weekend. On Monday morning the staff discovered the arsenal of weapons and a full-scale manhunt involving hundreds of counter-terrorism officers swung into action. Within 48 hours all six men had been arrested.

Detectives say there is no evidence linking the group to Pakistan or al-Qaida – although Hasseen had researched bomb-making from Inspire magazine, a self-help guide produced by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula which is pushed on internet forums to would-be terrorists.

One of the group, Uddin, was under "low-level" surveillance by the security services because of a suspected connection to a separate plot to carry out an attack rivalling the 7 July 2005 bombings – although police insist there was not enough evidence against him to warrant his arrest in relation to that case. Another, Hussain, was the brother of one of those convicted in the same plot. A third, Ahmed, had served a prison sentence after being convicted of possession of terrorist material from the internet.

However, counter-terrorism detectives say the group was not on their radar and that they knew nothing about the plot as the men set off for Dewsbury.