An engineering student who designed and built a “kamikaze” drone for ISIS has been jailed for life.
Mohamad Al Bared, from Coventry in the UK, used a 3D printer to create the weapon after chatting to the terror group online.
Doctoral student Al Bared, who studied at the University of Birmingham and specialised in laser drilling, began constructing the drone in July 2022.
Birmingham Crown Court heard notes were found in which Al Bared said the idea for the drone was “somewhat inspired by the design of the Tomahawk missile”.
The court heard he had intended to make a video-transmitting fixed-wing drone for terrorist purposes and to travel to West Africa via Turkey.
Al Bared, 27, had joined ISIS and then set up a UK-registered company, purportedly to import Turkish food, to help plans for future foreign travel.
In September, he was found guilty by a jury that heard he had put together a prototype drone, which he hoped would be capable of delivering a bomb or chemical weapon.
He was convicted of a single count of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts to benefit a proscribed terrorist organisation.
On Friday, Judge Paul Farrer KC said Al Bared, who previously studied at Coventry University and the University of Warwick, had decided to lend his support to the “terrorist agenda” of ISIS.
“I have no doubt that you intended your design to be used as a single-use weapon with a range of up to 5 kilometres,” he said.
“Your preparations were undertaken with a view to endangering multiple lives.”
Observing that the design of the drone was “at best suspect and at worse fundamentally flawed”. The judge added: “This was a work in progress.
“You are a manipulative individual. You are a committed extremist. I have no doubt that you are still today a supporter of ISIS.
“It is impossible to say whether you will ever surrender your extremist views. You are a dangerous offender from whom the public requires protection.
“The seriousness of the offending justifies a sentence of life imprisonment.”
The drone and a mobile phone were seized when Al Bared was arrested in January this year, leading to the discovery of encrypted online chats and other digital material exposing his support for ISIS.
