Student guilty of helping Islamic State build 'chemical weapon drone'

A PhD student has been told he may face life behind bars after being found guilty of plotting to supply so-called Islamic State terrorists with a drone capable of delivering a bomb or chemical weapon.

Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court deliberated for around six hours over two days before unanimously convicting Mohamad Al Bared, who designed and built the unmanned aerial device at his Coventry home. The 27-year-old mechanical engineering graduate at the University of Birmingham was found guilty of a single count of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts to benefit a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Al Bared was remanded in custody and told he may face a life term when he is sentenced in November. He denied being a supporter of IS or its aims, having told jurors he had no plans to assist it in any way and that he made a drone for his own research purposes.

Al Bared, who specialised in laser-drilling, also claimed to have researched IS to argue against its aims with others at a mosque. But prosecutors said it was clear from encrypted online chats and other digital material that he supported IS, intended to make a “single-use” video-transmitting fixed-wing drone for terrorist purposes, and to travel to Africa via Turkey.

The court previously heard several devices were seized and analysed and a 3D printer was also found at the property, which could be used to make parts for the drone, prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC said.The drone was shown to jurors and Ms Heeley said it had landing gear and a small digital camera. "It had all the components required for it to fly," Ms Heeley said.

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"We suggest it was being manufactured to deliver a bomb... to fly into IS enemy territory and deliver a chemical weapon or some other kind of device." Ms Heeley alleged that written material found on an electronic device saying the idea for the drone was "somewhat inspired by the design of the Tomahawk missile", was Mr Al-Bared "reporting back to someone about what it is that he is doing".

It included references to fuses, mechanical detonators and an "explosive" head. "What drone for legitimate use needs an explosive head?," she said. "What does need an explosive head is a drone that has been designed on a missile."

Ms Heeley told the jury: "The only reasonable conclusion you can reach is you can be sure that he was preparing for acts of terrorism."

Adjourning sentence after Al Bared was convicted of preparing for terrorism between January 1, 2022 and January 31 this year, Judge Paul Farrer KC said: “The court is going to have to consider whether the appropriate sentence is one of life imprisonment. You have been convicted of an offence of the utmost gravity.

“A long prison sentence is the inevitable consequence of that but the length and nature of that sentence is a matter for careful consideration, and the court will take that decision having received input from the Probation Service.”