Sabeel Ahmed, a doctor with the UK’s NHS, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for withholding information on the Glasgow bombing plotters.
His brother Kafeel Ahmed had sent him an e-mail saying, "This is the project that I was working on for some time now. Everything else was a lie."It's about time that we give up our lives and our families for the sake of Islam to please Allah."
Two days later Kafeel rammed a jeep into the air terminal in Glasgow, but could not cause much of a damage. Only he was burnt to death.
Sabeel Ahmed has got away relatively lightly because it turned out he did not read the message until after the attack took place. But then Sabeel did not pass on to the authorities the information contained in his brother’s e-mail.
Indian-born Ahmed, 26, from Liverpool, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to withholding information about terrorism.
Ahmed has already served half his sentence on remand and has agreed to leave the country and he is being released into the custody of the immigration service to be deported back to India.
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He told Ahmed: "I accept that so far as you personally were concerned, there is no sign of your being an extremist or party to extremist views."
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The sentencing on Friday came as the full details of how hundreds of clubbers escaped death last summer were revealed.
Two car bombs packed with improvised explosives and gas cylinders failed to go off in central London only because of a technical failing.
One was positioned outside the Tiger Tiger club in the capital city, which was filled with 556 clubbers and dozens of staff. And a second was further down Haymarket.
The court heard how bombers tried to trigger the devices with their mobile phones but the fume-filled cars failed to ignite.
The club was evacuated safely in 10 minutes and no one was hurt thanks to the quick thinking of the club manager.
Two other doctors, Mohammed Asha and Bilal Abdulla, are alleged to have been responsible for all three car bombs and will stand trial in October.
Jonathan Laidlaw, prosecuting, told the court today that Kafeel and others had planned a campaign of bomb attacks across Britain.
They targeted "clubs and places of entertainment where the devastating effect and loss of life would be the greatest."
Laidlaw said: "This was to be a campaign the bombers hoped would increase the level of fear felt by the general population in this country in the further threat of Islamic extremism.
The bombers used two Mercedes bought in Warrington and Sheffield and constructed the homemade devices in a bomb factory in Paisley, Scotland.
This involved a combination of fuel, gas bottles, electronic equipment and circuit boards fitted to a timer operated by mobile phone. The cars were driven south arriving in central London in the early hours of 29 June.
The green Mercedes was parked close to Tiger Tiger but was spotted after staff had called an ambulance for an unrelated incident at about 1.40am.
"The lights were on but nobody was with the vehicle," said Laidlaw.
"A club door supervisor and the general manager approached the Mercedes and looked into the front nearside window.
"Gas vapour appeared to be venting and billowing up inside.
"There appeared to be a white duvet covering materials on the rear seat and there was a strong smell of liquid petroleum gas.
"The ambulance staff looked into the vehicle and with considerable presence of mind the manager arranged with the assistance of the ambulance staff to contact the police and begin the process of clearing the street and area around the club.
"Arrangements were made to evacuate the club by the rear emergency door and complete evacuation was achieved in 10 minutes."
The bomb squad was called and the device was disarmed.
At 3.15am a traffic warden ticketed a blue Mercedes outside Canada House at the Trafalgar Square end of Haymarket, where it had been parked for at least an hour. The vehicle was taken to the NCP pound in Park Lane.
A "strong and strange" smell of chemicals was emanating from it and police were called. Examination of the bomb showed it had undergone "a small explosive event" but the main explosive charge had not detonated.
"Had the ignition of petrol vapour taken place it would have created an initial explosion and the rapid flames set off the gas cylinders leading to a series of explosions accelerated by the petrol in the car," said Laidlaw.
"The failure of the vapour to ignite in each vehicle, despite the activation of at least one device, was probably due to the fuel/air ratio exceeding ignition levels.
"Phone records show that there had been a number of attempts by the two men to activate the devices."
Laidlaw then told the court: "These were plainly potentially viable devices which could quite easily have killed many, many people - that was the intention of the bombers.
"Fortunately, not for want of trying on their part, the devastation didn't work as intended."
The bombers met up in Edgware Road, and stayed the night in London before returning by coach to Glasgow.
The next day they took a Cherokee jeep packed with another bomb and drove it at speed into the airport terminal building.
Although the bomb did not explode, a fire broke out which was to kill Kafeel.
The court heard that after the Glasgow attack Sabeel Ahmed found messages left by his brother.
They revealed he intended to kill himself but ordered Sabeel to keep quiet.
In long interviews with the police after his arrest which lasted until the middle of July he continued to withhold the information "in accordance with instructions he had received from his brother," said Laidlaw.
Sabeel was originally from Bangalore where he went to university and qualified as a doctor.
He came to the UK in April 2005 and was granted a visa to continue his medical studies.
For sometime he lived in Cambridge with his brother who had a doctorate in engineering but moved on to work in hospitals in and around Liverpool, Daily Mail reports.
Source-Medindia
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