Undercover officers found bomb in terrorist's car

An undercover officer has described how secret agents found a bomb in the car of a convicted terrorist then left him alone with it, not knowing whether it was about to blow up.

The officer, known as Vincent, was posing as the boss of Hero Couriers toinfiltrate the group dubbed the Three Musketeers who are on trial at the OldBailey accused of plotting a terror attack in the UK.

They were arrested on August 26 last year after the pipe bomb and other items were discovered in a JD Sports bag in Naweed Ali's car.

Both 29-year-old Ali and his co-accused Khobaib Hussain, 25, had previousconvictions for attending a terror training camp and had been given jobs byVincent to travel around the country delivering parcels for £100 a day.

On Ali's first day, he left his Seat Leon at the Hero Couriers depot inBirmingham city centre and took a van on a delivery run to Luton, the courtheard.

Meanwhile, British security services, accompanied by another undercover officer called Andy, arrived in a van to search Ali's car.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, Vincent said their attendance was to conduct a technical operation and a search of Naweed Ali's vehicle, he added that he had no part in the operation but remained present at the time.

Vincent said he tried to slow down Ali's return by diverting him to Crawleyservice station because "we were running out of time."

The bag was put on a ground sheet on the floor of the depot and securityofficers first found what appeared to be a handgun before spotting the pipebomb, the witness said.He said:

The officer described a flurry of phone calls with senior officers to decidewhat to do next as they "entered a very different kind of scenario".He added:

He told jurors they moved the bag because "we feared if this was a viable explosive device it needed to be contained and also within the room there were a number of large gas canisters".

Vincent told jurors the bag contained a black self-loading pistol with an empty magazine strapped to it; chrome-coloured pipe with brass-coloured end caps; a "hatchet" knife; gunshot cartridges and a single 9mm bullet.

There were also latex gloves, a roll of gaffer tape and some napkins, he said.

By the time Vincent was in contact with Ali again, he knew the decision hadbeen taken to arrest him on arrival at the depot, the court heard.

Once bomb disposal officers had been called and Ali was in custody, Vincent went to be debriefed, he said.

Jurors have previously heard that the pipe bomb turned out to be only partially constructed and the pistol was an imitation firearm.

Ali and Hussain, both of Sparkhill in Birmingham, and Mohibur Rahman, 32, and Tahir Aziz, 38, of Stoke-on-Trent, deny preparing terrorist acts.

Ali's defence lawyer Stephen Kamlish QC will cross-examine the officer when the trial resumes at the Old Bailey on Monday.