Luton man jailed over bomb-making manual and 'assassin guide'

A man has been jailed for nine months after extremist material was found on his mobile phone.

Mohammed Adnan Saleem, 22, of Montrose Avenue, Luton, had saved several banned documents, including a bomb-making manual and a file on explosives.

He was convicted in March on three counts - brought under the Terrorism Act 2000 - at the Old Bailey in London.

The Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (EROS) said Saleem "held a dangerous extremist mindset".

Saleem was arrested in May 2020 during an investigation led by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).

Investigators seized two mobile phones, a laptop, digital storage devices and a games console.

Examination by digital forensics experts found his phones contained several banned documents, including a guide to making a pressure cooker bomb, a file on how to make explosives, and a separate document titled "How to become an assassin", ERSOU said.

He was charged with eight counts of collecting or possessing material likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

A jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty on three of the counts, after a three-week trial.

He was sentenced to nine months in prison - and an extended licence period of one year.

Hannah Wilkinson, head of ERSOU's Counter Terrorism Policing Unit, said: "There is no doubt that Saleem held a dangerous extremist mindset.

"He proactively downloaded Islamist propaganda and had spoken to others about his views on jihad."

She added: "Knowing his actions were wrong, he used encrypted communications tools in an attempt to hide his messages, and subsequently tried to argue in court that the documents he'd downloaded were for 'educational purposes'."

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