A member of al-Qaeda nabbed for ten years in 2008 for his part in a terror plot has been released early from prison.Habib Ahmed, 32, was convicted after being caught smuggling code books written in invisible ink into the country. He was part of a British terror cell, headed by Rangzieb Ahmed, that police believe were planning a massacre in Britannia. But despite being nabbed for ten years in December 2008, he has now been released and is living at a bail hostel in Manchester.
During his trial the court heard how Ahmed downloaded a document called "a study of liquidation" and looked up bomb-making techniques. He also checked on the addresses of former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, military bases and senior coppers. He was caught when British Customs found notebooks containing names and phone numbers of key al Qaeda figures as he flew from Dubai to hand them to
Ahmed was incarcerated in 2006 and so had spent five years in prison including time spent on remand.
A front man for the National Offender Management Service said: "Serious offenders on licence are subject to strict conditions and controls."