Bomb maker jailed for 20 years

Abedin used a so-called "terrorist's handbook"

A 27-year-old man has been jailed for 20 years at Birmingham Crown Court after being found guilty of planning to cause an explosion.

Mr Justice Hughes told Moinul Abedin of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, that the planned explosions would have caused "immense risk" to people's lives if they had not been stopped by the security services.

Abedin and his co-defendant Dr Faisal Mostafa, 38, of Greater Manchester, both denied charges of conspiring to cause explosions and possessing explosives.

Dr Mostafa was cleared by a jury of all charges.

MI5 operatives

Although Abedin was convicted of committing an act with intent to cause an explosion using the explosive HMTD, he was cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions between 1 October and 18 November 2000.

During the trial, the court heard that Abedin stockpiled enormous quantities of the home-made explosive HMTD and made detonators in readiness to cause a terrorist blast.

It's not shown that you had determined on a target or targets

Mr Justice Hughes

The judge said Abedin, who used a so-called terrorists' handbook detailing bomb-making techniques, had put together a chlorate-based mixture which was very common in terrorist devices.

The court was not presented with any evidence about Abedin's intended target or motivation.

"It's not shown that you had determined on a target or targets," Mr Justice Hughes said.

Fireworks business

Abedin used a terraced house in Sparkhill, Birmingham, and an industrial unit in the Tyseley area of the city to stockpile bomb-making material.

Abedin told the court that he and his co-defendant were not plotting to make bombs, but intended to start a fireworks business.

Both men were put under surveillance by a team of 15 MI5 operatives and four agents, identified in court only by their code numbers.

The team leader for the operation, who gave evidence from behind a screen to protect his identity, confirmed officers tracked the defendants and recorded sightings of them.

Abedin was given the codename "Pivoting Dancer" while Dr Mostafa was called "Molten Lava", although there was no significance to the names, the jury was told during the trial.

The jury, which took eight hours to reach its verdicts after a six-week trial, was discharged from reaching verdicts on a joint charge of possession of HMTD.