Articles | Man knew of Glasgow airport attack

Man knew of Glasgow airport attack

Published: Friday, 11 April 2008, 12:19PM

A brother of one of the alleged Glasgow bombers is to be deported after admitting he withheld information about the failed suicide attack

NHS doctor Sabeel Ahmed, 26, was sentenced to 18 months at the Old Bailey but because of the time he has already served in jail has been freed and is being voluntarily deported back to India.

The 26-year-old is the brother of Kafeel Ahmed, who was the driver of a burning Jeep Cherokee which was driven into the main terminal building in the Scottish city on June 29, 2007.

The attack came the day after failed bombing attempts in London when two cars containing petrol, gas cylinders and mobile phone detonators were discovered near a nightclub in the centre of the capital.

Kafeel Ahmed subsequently died on August 3 after suffering burns to 90 per cent of his body. His brother was arrested near Liverpool's Lime Street station on June 30 last year and was later charged under the Terrorism Act.

Ahmed, originally from Bangalore in India, but then living in Ramilies Road, Liverpool, was the third person charged in the investigation. Two other men face a trial later this year accused of conspiracy to cause explosions.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the court that the attack was intended to be a suicide mission after the London attempts on the Tiger, Tiger nightclub in Haymarket and a car parked nearby - which was later towed to a car pound in Mayfair - failed.

He said: "The first of the attacks on June 29 were not planned to involve the suicide of the operatives who delivered the devices." He added that mobile phone devices were intended to detonate the bombs but failed, possibly due to the smothering effect of dense petrol vapours.

Mr Laidlaw continued: "One assumes that the nature of the (Glasgow) attack in terms of what was planned had changed because of the failed attempts in London.

"They appeared now to have been working on the basis they were likely to be arrested and the attack to be conducted at Glasgow was to be a suicide attack likely to result in the loss of both their lives."

He added: "When outside the terminal, Kafeel Ahmed, who was driving the Jeep, turned the vehicle sharply and crashed it into the pillars to the right hand side of one of the entrance doors.

"He then, having found himself from his perspective out of position, reversed the Jeep and made the first of a number of attempts to drive the vehicle through the airport door, repeatedly hitting pillars and the door frame.

"Despite his efforts, the vehicle became trapped. Those who witnessed him described a set and determined face as he stared forward. At that point the vehicle was then 20 feet from passengers queueing within the terminal building.

"His passenger lowered his window and threw a petrol bomb across the bonnet in the direction of the taxi rank and then threw a second of these devices in the opposite direction.

"At the same time the driver, the defendant's brother, began to pour and splash fuel from a can on to the area outside the car window and appeared to throw a petrol bomb. He got out of the vehicle and was engulfed in flames that swept around the Jeep and terminal building.

"He appeared to try and prevent others from getting to him or the vehicle. He kicked out but eventually, he being on fire, he was extinguished, subdued, handcuffed and arrested."

The court heard that on June 30, Kafeel Ahmed sent his brother a text message directing him to an online email account containing several documents. Mr Laidlaw said these included instructions to Sabeel Ahmed on how to frustrate the police and his brother's Islamic will.

When police searched Ahmed's Liverpool home, they found his brother's laptop computer which contained evidence that Ahmed had accessed the files.