Man jailed for trying to buy hand grenade to blow up police station

Mohammed Chowdhury, 24, handed over £300 to buy an explosive device on February 5 last year.

At the time, he was in breach of a suspended sentence for waving an axe at a man outside a Tube station. Having been caught on CCTV, Chowdhury directed his rage against the police, with a possible target being a police station in East London, jurors heard.

Chowdhury’s attempts to purchase a hand grenade were thwarted because the weapons dealer he approached was in fact an undercover police officer.

While he was in prison awaiting trial, Chowdhury revealed to family members what he intended to do.

In a phone call with his mother, he said: “I don’t care about the judge or the police and that. I wanted to hurt one of them, innit. I was getting annoyed. If I would have got that, I would have chucked it at the station, innit, I don’t care.”

Following a trial, he was found guilty of attempting to possess the grenade with intent, having already admitted four charges of possessing terrorist material.

He was jailed at the Old Bailey on Monday (June 21) for nine years with a further five years on extended licence.

Judge Philip Katz QC said Chowdhury’s behaviour was “deeply concerning” and he considered him a dangerous offender. While he was not radicalised, he was “deeply immersed in the digital world of violence”, the judge said.

He told the defendant, who appeared by video-link from jail: “In my judgment, when you become frustrated with life your anger is liable to tip over into action and violence.”

Judge Katz said the defendant did not have a “fixed plan”, but had considered the possibility of detonating the grenade at a police station.

He rejected Chowdhury’s mitigation that his threats were simply childish tantrums.

Earlier, the defendant’s lawyer Michael Skelley said Chowdhury had struggled throughout his life and had wanted to be a spy like James Bond.

He had been assessed for a learning disability and autism but had never received a full diagnosis.

At the time of the offending, he was unemployed and isolated, existing on takeaways in a bedsit and surfing the internet, the lawyer said.

The trial had previously heard how on January 31 last year, the undercover officer known as Gary was tasked to make contact with the defendant, known as Buyer.

On February 5, they met at a coffee shop in Wanstead, East London, where Chowdhury, seemingly nervous and excited, said he could only get £300 for one grenade.

They arranged to meet at Leyton Tube station to make the trade with another undercover officer.

Asked if he knew how to handle a grenade, Chowdhury said: “Yeah, take it and like 30 seconds and then you chuck it or something like that.” Asked if he wanted the “real thing”, he replied: “Yeah.”

Following his arrest by armed police, officers searched his flat in Tower Hamlets, East London, and recovered a “shopping list” including handcuffs, nitrite gloves, and strong acid.

An examination of his mobile phone indicated that he had downloaded information on making explosives.

He appeared to have attempted to buy a balaclava, lock picks, a stun gun and a handgun online, jurors heard.

In a note saved on his phone, he had written about wanting his family dead, saying “also I feel I want to commit mass murder and kill myself before the police get a chance to arrest me”.

Before the grenade attempt, Chowdhury had being involved in an incident on November 19, 2019, when he was pushed from behind by a man outside Stepney Green Underground station.

He ran off, only to return armed with a short-handled axe in his hand tied to his body by a length of cord which he brandished at a second man who ran away.

He pleaded guilty to having a bladed article in a public place, for which he received a suspended sentence.