Newcastle BA Worker Jailed For Terror Plot

18 March 2011, 09:59 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A man from Newcastle who worked as a computer expert with British Airways has been jailed for 30 years for planning a 9/11 style terror attack

31 year old rajib Karim wanted to use his position at the airline to plant a bomb on a plane as part of a conspiracy with Anwar Al-Awlaki, a notorious radical preacher associated with al Qaida.

Karim hoped he could exploit industrial action by staff to become a cabin crew member and cause an explosion on a US-bound flight.

He was found guilty last month of four counts of planning terrorism.

Sentencing him at Woolwich Crown Court, judge Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said they were offences ``of the utmost gravity''.

The judge recommended that Karim be automatically deported after he has completed his sentence.

He told Karim that he ``worked incessantly to further terrorist purposes'' while leading a quiet and unobtrusive lifestyle.

The judge said: ``You are and were a committed jihadist who understood his duty to his religion involves fighting and, God-willing, dying and then being rewarded in the afterlife.''

He accepted that Karim was more of ``a follower than a leader''.

But added: ``I have to sentence on the basis that he meant what he said.''