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Man sentenced for terrorism offences after being found with 3D printing firearms manuals

A man from northwest London has been sentenced after being found guilty of various terrorism offences.

Abdiwahid Abdulkadir Mohamed was found guilty of six counts of possessing documents likely to be useful for committing or preparing an act of terrorism (contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000), after a trial at Kingston Crown Court. He has been sentenced to seven years in prison with another year on extended licence.

Mohamed was stopped and spoken to by counter terrorism officers at Heathrow in February 2022 as part of a 鈥榮chedule 7鈥� stop, as he returned to he UK from Kenya.

He was questioned by officers who also searched his digital devices. Mohamed was released, but his devices were sent for further examination by specialist digital forensic officers within the Counter Terrorism Command.

Officers found that he was using two Telegram accounts and was a member of of various extreme Islamist groups on the platform. They also found documents that appeared to be instructions on how to create and build 3D-printed firearms. Forensic experts discovered that if followed correctly, they could result in the production of viable weapons and firearms.

Mohamed was arrested in January 2023 and officers seized another mobile phone. The device found further evidence of Mohamed's extremist mindset and searches for 3D printers.

He was charged on 18 January 2023, with six counts of possessing documents likely to be useful for committing or preparing an act of terrorism (contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000). He has since been found guilty of all charges and sentenced to seven years in prison with a further year on extended licence.

Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, from the Met鈥檚 Counter Terrorism Command said: 鈥淢ohamed was using a social media app to send himself and store instructions on how to make 3D-printed weapons. He tried to conceal what he was doing by using two anonymous accounts and storing the documents on the encrypted app鈥檚 servers, but this didn鈥檛 stop us from identifying what he was up to. The circulation of these kind of documents online is extremely harmful and anyone storing, or sharing this type of content can expect to be investigated and prosecuted as Mohamed was here.

鈥淭his investigation also came about as a result of a 鈥榮chedule 7鈥� stop by officers at an airport. It shows just how valuable those powers are in helping us to identify and investigate potential terrorist activity and, ultimately, help keep the public safe.鈥�

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