Tuesday, August 8, 2017

UK:Muhammad found guilty of trying to smuggle a bomb onto a plane after British Police let him go, 4 times.

(Manchester) 43 year old Nadeem Muhammad has been  found guilty of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or property after a pipe bomb was found in his hand luggage at Manchester airport.

Nadeem Muhammad 
The court had heard he was planning to board a Ryanair flight to Italy on 30th January when security officers found the device, made of masking tape, batteries, the tube of a marker pen, pins and wires, in the zip lining of his small suitcase. Muhammad claimed in court that he had never seen the device before and that it had nothing to do with him. However, he was only caught after the keystone cops  let him go not once, not twice or even thrice, but four times :
The court had heard he was planning to board a Ryanair flight to Italy on 30 January when security officers found the device.  Muhammad was questioned by officers from the counter-terrorism unit but released. He returned to the airport the next day to collect his mobile phone, which had been taken by police, then again on 5 February when he boarded another flight to Italy. Suspicions were raised on the 8th February when the device was examined by forensics officers and the bomb squad was called. The explosive was then sent for examination where it was found to be a “crude but potentially viable improvised explosive device”. It contained double-base smokeless propellant, normally found in firearms ammunition, which was made up of nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. Italian police raided Muhammad’s home and workplace on 9 February and took him to a police station. But he was released after a couple of hours and on 12 February boarded another flight back to the UK. He was arrested when he arrived back at Manchester airport.

The jury reached a majority verdict of 10 to two on the charge after almost 16 hours of deliberations.  Muhammad, cried in the dock at Manchester crown court after the jury returned its verdict today.
After the verdict, Supt Graeme Openshaw of Greater Manchester police’s specialist operations unit said security procedures at the airport had been tightened up. “We accept that there were some errors with our assessment of the device on the day and we have already reviewed our practices.