Mohammed Ali, 31, sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to buy deadly chemical online after being inspired by US TV series

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A computer programmer has been jailed for eight years for trying to buy deadly ricin poison from the internet after being inspired by the US television series Breaking Bad.



Mohammed Ali, 31, was found guilty last month of attempting to possess a chemical weapon between 10 January and 12 February.

Sentencing Ali at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Saunders said: “It seems to me that this is the sort of case where a deterrent sentence has to be passed. Everyone needs to know that the possession of a chemical weapon is extremely serious and long prison sentences will follow.”

The judge commended law enforcement agencies in Britain and the US for ensuring that ricin did not get into Ali’s possession.

He told the court: “I am satisfied that Mohammed Ali had no intention of disposing of ricin immediately. He intended to keep it. That created a real risk that, at some stage in the future, he might decide to experiment with it or it fall into the wrong hands.”

Under the username Weirdos 0000, Ali struck a deal with a supplier on the “dark web” – a largely untraceable internet illegal market – to buy 500mg of powder for $500 (£320) – enough to kill 1,400 people.

Ali was unaware that his source Psychochem was in fact an FBI agent who tipped off police in England and substituted the consignment of ricin for harmless powder.

After the father of two took delivery of a toy car with five vials hidden in the battery compartment, police swooped to arrest him at his home in Liverpool.

Under ultraviolet light, Ali’s face lit up showing that he had handled the package, which had been specially treated with a marker substance.

Computer analysis showed that Ali first began trawling the internet for information on poisons such as abrin, ricin and cyanide in October last year.

The court heard Ali approached the undercover agent in January with a private message: “Hi, would you be able to make me some ricin and send it to the UK?”

In a series of encrypted chats, they discussed the price of a lethal dose, discounts for bulk orders and repeat purchases, and ricin’s shelf life, jurors were told. At one point Ali asked: “How do I test this ricin?” and received the instruction: “You must test it on a rodent.”

Records showed that on 4 February, days before the delivery, he made a payment of 2.1849 bitcoins, the online currency.

Around this time, Ali had made a to-do list on his computer which included the entries “paid ricin guy” and “get pet to murder”, the court heard. He had also made a series of internet searches for chinchillas, animal rescue centres, rabbits and “pocket-sized pets”.

In his defence, Ali told jurors he was just curious and wanted to test the boundaries of the dark web, unaware that ricin was illegal. He said: “I found lots of different items ranging from drugs, guns, other illegal items, and because I had been watching the Breaking Bad TV show I just had ricin in my mind.”

Earlier in mitigating, Joel Bennathan QC said: “Mr Ali has a large supportive family who care for him. They are distraught and appalled by the mess he has got into. When he is released he will be supervised and will be occupied in order to make a living and looked after by his family.”

Ali, who was diagnosed with mild Asperger’s or autistic traits, stood impassively in the dock as the judge told him that possession of a chemical weapon was “much more serious that possessing a firearm”.

A woman in the public gallery, believed to be a family member, wailed loudly as he was sent down.

Afterwards, Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole, of the north-west counter-terrorism unit, said: “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’.”