Pak-Origin Man Convicted In UK For Possessing Explosives, Detonators:- Nadeem Muhammad, a 43-year old Pakistan origin man, with an Italian passport has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in the UK.

It is alleged that Muhammad was trying to smuggle a pipe bomb onto a plane at Manchester Airport. The accused had been convicted of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life at Manchester Crown Court earlier this month.

Sentencing at the court on Wednesday, Judge Patrick Field, concluded that there was no motivation for Muhammad’s actions. The prosecutors during the trial had presented evidence that Muhammad intended to detonate the device on a Boeing 737 flight to Bergamo, Italy. However, the jury did not believe Muhammad’s claim in court that he had never seen the device before.

“Despite extensive investigation, Nadeem Muhammad’s motive for attempting to take this device onto a plane remains unknown. However it is clear that the consequences, had he been successful could have been disastrous,” said Sue Hemmings from the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The court was told that Muhammad was planning to board a Ryanair flight to Italy on January 30 this year. The device, made of masking tape, batteries, the tube of a marker pen, pins and wires, in the zip lining of his small green suitcase was uncovered by the security officers. Initially, the security officers had not believed that the bomb was viable.  Muhammad was released after being questioned by counter-terrorism police and was allowed to board another flight to Bergamo, near Milan, five days later.

For further examination, the device was later passed on to the counter terrorism experts, who found it to be a “potentially viable” bomb containing nitro-glycerine and nitrocellulose. When he returned to the UK from Italy on February 12, Muhammad was eventually arrested.

After sentencing, the judge, said he was “alerted” about some of the evidence in the case and about “the lack of concern” expressed by both airport officials and police. “Airport security staff reached a wholly erroneous and potentially dangerous conclusion - as a result one member of staff even put the device in her pocket and tested it in the shoe X-ray machine,” he said. He said that had “put herself and fellow employees and members of public at risk”.

“The situation was compounded when the police became involved because they too readily accepted it wasn’t dangerous and an early opportunity to arrest him was missed.”

Judge Field said there was “a risk he (Muhammad) could have escaped justice altogether” and it was “good luck rather than good judgment” that “this matter came to a satisfactory conclusion”.

He noted: “In these dangerous times there is no room for complacency and I hope security at Manchester Airport will be subject to a review at the highest level.”

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “Security is our number one priority and we work closely with (the) government, police and other agencies to provide passengers with a safe and secure environment.”

“In this instance, our security team successfully detected a device hidden inside the lining of a suitcase. It was deemed to be a suspicious item and passed to police to investigate further.”

“These actions prevented a potentially dangerous item being taken on board an aircraft and, ultimately, to a successful prosecution,” the spokesperson said.

The security procedure has been reviewed by the airport and the police, said Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson.

SUPRAJA