A 43-year-old Pakistani-origin man, who tried to smuggle a pipe bomb on to a flight from Manchester to Italy, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, a media report said today.
Nadeem Muhammad was found to be carrying the "crude explosive device" when he was searched as he tried to board a flight to Bergamo on January 30. Security officers found the bomb, made from batteries, tape, a marker pen and pins, in the zip lining of a small green suitcase he was carrying, Guardian reported.
Sentencing him, judge Patrick Field was quoted by the report as saying that the court had heard no evidence of a motive - whether political, religious or terrorist - but that Muhammad's actions had shown an intention to cause harm to life and therefore deserved a long prison sentence.
During the trial at Manchester crown court, the jury heard that Muhammad, who was born in Pakistan but had an Italian passport, had intended to detonate the device on the Ryanair flight, the report said.
Airport security swabbed the confiscated device but found no trace of explosives, so concluded it was not dangerous.
Muhammad was questioned by police and said the device could have been put into his bag by somebody else, possibly his wife.
He missed his flight, but was not arrested, and was able to board another flight to Italy a few days later on February 5. On February 8, when the device was examined again, suspicions were raised and a bomb squad called.
Explosives experts found it was a "crude but potentially viable improvised explosive device" containing nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. Muhammad was arrested when he returned to the UK on February 12.
Muhammad, who claims to have had no knowledge of the device, wept in the dock as the majority verdict of 10 to two was read to the court earlier this month.
Field said: "There is simply an absence of evidence here of motivation and I am therefore not in a position to be sure that you were pursuing a terrorist purpose, therefore I cannot conclude this was an offence with a terrorist connection".
Muhammad was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment with an extension period of five years on licence.
Following the sentencing, Field criticised airport security for making the "wholly erroneous and potentially dangerous" decision that the bomb was not viable.
He said he was unlikely to be the only one to have been alarmed by some of the evidence in the trial and that he hoped security and policing at the airport would be reviewed at the highest level.
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