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.
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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