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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/08/manchester-airport-pipe-bomb-carrier-found-guilty-nadeem-muhammad
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| Manchester airport pipe bomb carrier found guilty | Manchester airport pipe bomb carrier found guilty |
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| A man 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. | A man 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, 43, cried in the dock at Manchester crown court after the jury returned its verdict on Tuesday. | Nadeem Muhammad, 43, cried in the dock at Manchester crown court after the jury returned its verdict on Tuesday. |
| The court had heard he was planning to board a Ryanair flight to Italy on 30 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. | The court had heard he was planning to board a Ryanair flight to Italy on 30 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. | Muhammad claimed in court that he had never seen the device before and that it had nothing to do with him. |
| The jury reached a majority verdict of 10 to two on the charge after almost 16 hours of deliberations. | |
| During the trial it was revealed that security officers at the airport had not initially believed the bomb was viable and, after being questioned by counter-terrorism police when the device was discovered, Muhammad was released and allowed to board another flight to Bergamo, near Milan, five days later. | |
| The court heard Muhammad, who was born in Pakistan but had an Italian passport, was planning to detonate the bomb once on board the Boeing 737. | |
| The “crude improvised explosive device” was discovered by airport security when his hand luggage went through scanners at the airport. | |
| But when security swabbed the bomb, there was no trace of explosives on the outside and officers did not believe it was a viable device. Deborah Jeffrey, the security manager at Terminal 3, initially kept it in her pocket before it was handed to police. | |
| Muhammad, of Bury, 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 8 February when the device was examined by forensics officers and the bomb squad was called. | |
| The explosive was then sent for examination by Lorna Philp, an expert, who found it was a “crude but potentially viable improvised explosive device”. | |
| The device 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. | |
| Muhammad had told the trial he was surprised to see the bomb when it was found in his bag and that it had nothing “at all” to do with him. He told the court: “I had never seen it before.” | |
| Muhammad, whose wife was in court throughout the trial, cried as he was remanded in custody by the judge, Patrick Field QC. He is scheduled to be sentenced on 23 August. | |
| After he was found guilty, Sue Hemming, the head of the special crime and counter-terrorism division in the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Despite extensive investigation, Nadeem Muhammad’s motive for attempting to take this device on to a plane remains unknown. However, it is clear that the consequences, had he been successful, could have been disastrous.” |