Mohammed Ammer Ali, photographed under a UV light after he was arrested, covered in invisible liquid from handling the toy car with what he believed was ricin. Photograph: Greater Manchester police
A Liverpool man has been found guilty of ordering a “Breaking Bad-style” delivery of enough ricin to kill 1,400 people from an undercover FBI agent.
Mohammed Ammer Ali, 31, attempted to purchase 500mg of “the poisoner’s perfect poison” on the dark web before police raided his family home earlier this year.
He was arrested after the FBI tipped off the north-west counter-terrorism unit in the UK, although detectives have since found no evidence that Ali had any links to terrorist groups.
At his Old Bailey trial, Ali argued that he was not guilty of attempting to possess a chemical weapon between 10 January 2015 and 12 February 2015 because it was for a “peaceful purpose”. He claimed to have been simply curious to see whether he could purchase items from the dark web.
However, a jury on Wednesday found him guilty after deliberating for five and a half hours. The trial judge, Mr Justice Saunders, said: “There is no evidence that he was planning any sort of terrorist attack.
“There is also no evidence that he had in mind any specific victims for ricin. I do not accept he was going to dispose of it. I’m satisfied it would have remained in his possession in some way and that is the basis on which I propose to sentence.”
Ali slumped in the dock with his head in his hands after hearing the verdict. The judge ordered a psychiatric report as he adjourned sentencing to 18 September. The maximum sentence for the offence is life imprisonment.
Ali, a software engineer, used the online moniker “Weirdos 0000” and used the cryptocurrency bitcoin to order 500mg of ricin from an online black market known as the Evolution Marketplace, the trial heard.
He privately contacted a US dealer about obtaining the deadly poison – not knowing that the dealer was in fact an undercover FBI agent.
Over several weeks of communication, Ali promised to order 500mg of ricin a month for several months if he was happy with the initial product. He said in one message: “I do like the idea of five separate vials. Are we talking Breaking Bad-style?”
Jurors were told that Ali, a father of two, carried out Google searches for “small sized pets” and “Liverpool pet shop” minutes after receiving the five vials, which were concealed in a children’s toy car.
Instead of ricin, police officers in the UK had planted a harmless substance in the car – including an invisible chemical that would later prove Ali had handled the toy after it was delivered by FedEx. He was arrested in a series of counter-terrorism raids across Merseyside the following morning.
Ali, who was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome following psychological assessments after his arrest, told jurors that he was fascinated with the dark web and had ordered ricin simply because he was watching the cult US drama Breaking Bad at the time, which featured the toxin in at least one storyline.
“I was interested in the dark net and ricin,” he said in the witness box. “I just wanted to know what the fuss was about. I wanted to know can you actually get anything from these sites. So I go on one of these websites – Evolution.
“I found lots of different items ranging from drugs, guns, other illegal items, and because I had been watching Breaking Bad TV show I just had ricin in my head.”
When investigators examined his computers, they found he had carried out Google searches for “small sized pets” and made an aide memoire saying “get pet to murder”.
He had also spent months researching different types of lethal poison – with Google searches including “abrin v ricin”, “home made cyanide and ricin” and “hydrogen peroxide”.
On his LG Nexus mobile phone, Ali had searched on Yahoo for “what poison kills you quick, is foolproof, easily found/made, easily concealed and hard to detect post mortem”.
Giving evidence, Ali said: “After doing a few searches I realised this is a very stupid, very very stupid thing to do, and I stopped looking for any sort of pets and started searching for Pets Direct for my son.”
However, prosecutor Sally Howes QC said Ali’s explanation did not stack up. She said he had made a “carefully crafted, well planned and thoroughly researched attempt to get his hands on ricin” – and been caught out.
DCS Tony Mole, of the north-west counter-terrorism unit, said after the verdict: “Ali attempted to buy a deadly poison and we can only speculate on what he planned to use it for, but in any case such as this, we take swift and decisive action.
“Thanks to the vigilance of officers from a number of different law enforcement agencies, we were able to intervene before this man did get hold of such a deadly substance from a genuine seller.
“I want to reassure our communities that the north-west counter-terrorism unit and local police are well aware of the potential dangers associated with internet activity on the dark web. Law enforcement agencies use a range of investigative techniques to monitor and police unlawful internet activity.”
Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service counter-terrorism division, said: “The jury has today roundly rejected Mohammed Ali’s claim that he was trying to understand the workings of the dark web and wanted to buy ricin, a deadly toxin, for a peaceful purpose.
“Ricin is a naturally occurring poison which is fatal even in very small doses. Ali knew the dangers of ricin and had been researching poisons for months before he attempted to obtain it. The evidence also showed that he was planning to test it on an animal that he was hoping to buy.
“Today shows yet again that even in the case of crimes committed in the darkest corners of the internet, criminals can be caught and convicted.”
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/29/liverpool-man-who-ordered-breaking-bad-style-ricin-delivery-found-guilty
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