A teenager appeared in court on Tuesday accused of planning to carry out a mass-casualty terror attack on London landmarks including Buckingham Palace and Oxford Street.

Haroon Ali-Syed, 19, from Hounslow in west London, attempted to buy a bomb over the internet as well as guns, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told.

He had attempted to obtain bank loans to pay for the weaponry and tried to contact a bombmaker to build a nail bomb. The court heard Ali-Syed was “trying to carry out a terrorist attack on the scale of 7/7”.

Ali-Syed was arrested on September 8 on suspicion of a terror offence after a five-month police operation.

It is alleged that between April 2016 and September 2016, Ali-Syed attempted to obtain weapons online, including an explosive device, with a view to launching an assault on a busy area of the capital.