EGKK: Man admits to grenade in luggage

man who flew to the UK intending to be a suicide bomber has admitted carrying a hand grenade in his luggage.
Hazil Rahaman-Alan, 39, had boarded a British Airways jet in Caracas in 2003 and his case containing the grenade went to Gatwick in the hold.

The Venezuelan admitted at the Old Bailey to having a high explosive hand grenade with intent to endanger life.

But it was accepted that he was not a terrorist and that his motives were obscure, the court heard.

Rahaman-Alan was arrested when the grenade was found during a routine search on 13 February 2003.

The find closed the North Terminal at Gatwick and 40 flight departures were delayed.

Rahaman-Alan was questioned by anti-terrorist officers and charged under the Terrorism Act.

‘Plight of others’

He told police he wanted to blow himself up in an open area to draw attention to the plight of others.

Interviewed after his arrest, Rahaman-Alan said “the grenade would be his microphone to the world”, the court heard.

The charges were later changed to offences under the Explosives Act and the Aviation Act.

Nicholas Dean QC, prosecuting, said what Rahaman-Alan had planned to do and partly succeeded in doing “was highly dangerous and disruptive”.

“In some respects he could not have done more to convince people he was a terrorist and had he carried out what he intended to do and died, it would have been assumed he was a terrorist and been acclaimed by or for some extremist cause, ” he said.

Mr Dean also told the court the grenade could not have been used because the detonator had been removed. An expert concluded there was no risk from the explosives inside without the detonator.

Rahaman-Alan, the youngest son of a wealthy family living outside Caracas, went to Saudi Arabia to become a Muslim preacher.

But after his father’s death in 1999, Rahaman-Alan gave up his studies and appears to have had a breakdown.

Rahaman-Alan, who had no previous convictions, had cut himself off from his family, wife and young daughter in the years before 2003, the court heard.

He been treated in hospital for depression in Venezuela, the court heard.

Rahaman-Alan travelled extensively between 2001 and 2002 visiting Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Germany.

While in Germany he claimed asylum using a false name and date of birth.

He was a devout Muslim, but there was no suggestion he held extremist political or religious views, the court heard.

Mr Dean told the court the intended suicide arose from “personal frustration”.

‘Fragile’ sticker

Rahaman-Alan told police his plan had been “spontaneous”.

He had gone to poor area of Caracas where he bought the grenade from petty criminals. A week later he bought a return flight to Britain.

Mr Dean said: “There is nothing to suggest Mr Rahaman-Alan had any angst against the United Kingdom. He knew very little about this country.”

When he checked in his backpack, he requested it should have a fragile sticker stuck on it and travel in the hold with other luggage.

During the flight, he had drawn attention to himself by moving around the aircraft and appearing to be nervous, said Mr Dean.

Mr Dean said he was “fortunately stopped” in a random check by a customs officer at Gatwick.

BBC Source