Muslim convert Andrew Ibrahim Photo: PA
Ibrahim, a Muslim convert who changed his first name to Isa, was found guilty on Friday of trying to launch a bomb attack using a homemade suicide vest.
Detective Superintendent Nigel Rock, the senior investigating officer, said: “He was unknown to us, the first thing we knew about his device was from the Muslim community. All of Bristol should be grateful to them for providing information. Without a doubt they saved people from serious injury and worse.”
Det Chief Supt Kevin Hazell, head of the South West Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Unit, said the case was a success for the government’s Prevent strategy which has involved encouraging local mosques to understand the challenges of fighting terrorism and to challenge is extremist views.
Officials at the mosque, in central Bristol, told the Daily Telegraph it was a “sensitive subject” and they had decided not to comment.
Ibrahim is thought to be one of the few examples of a “self-radicalising” terrorist who downloaded videos by the extremist preachers Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri Mohammed.
The following month Nicky Reilly, another Muslim convert walked into the Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter and tried to blow himself up. He is serving life in prison.