Features / Andrew Ibrahim
The story behind the Bristol bomber
A new counter terrorism campaign features the untold story of how a 19-year-old public school boy planned to blow up the Galleries shopping centre with a homemade bomb.
The podcast tells the story of self-radicalised Andrew ‘Isa’ Ibrahim, from Westbury-on-Trym, who was jailed in 2009 after planning the attack.
It features accounts from detectives, bomb disposal and surveillance officers, witnesses and Andrew himself.
is needed now More than ever
The self-radicalised public schoolboy was not on the police radar
In the recording one of his teacher tells how she raised concerns about Andrew’s behaviour: “He was asking me which sort of different bacteria could be used to kill people.
“Almost immediately I thought ‘oh this is just a bit of an odd thing to ask someone’.
“It was at that point I thought it was prudent to report what I heard to the management of the college.”
The podcast tells how detectives pieced together the case against him. They discovered a blueprint for a bomb in a notepad, uncovered his surveillance visits to a shopping centre and tracked his increasingly radicalised behaviour on the internet.
Andrew practised blowing up bombs in his bedroom – using loud music to cover the sound of the explosives.
After noticing burns on Andrew’s hands and arms a member of the Islamic community in Bristol reported him to an intelligence agent.
Following his arrest officers found his flat covered in high explosives, the neighbourhood was evacuated and a bomb packed in a biscuit tin was discovered.
To hear the full podcast ‘Code Severe’ click here.
Read More: A community fights back
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