Passenger caught with pipe bomb allowed to fly days later because police did not realise device was viable

'The only reason he would have for trying to get that explosive device onto the aeroplane was that he intended to detonate it within the confines of the Boeing 737 aircraft'

Nadeem Muhammad was attempting to board a Ryanair flight from Manchester Airport to Bergamo, Italy (FRANK PERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

A man who tried to smuggle a pipe bomb onto a Ryanair plane was allowed to fly again days later because police did not realise the device was "crude but potentially viable".

Nadeem Muhammad, 43, was attempting to board a flight from Manchester Airport to Bergamo, Italy, on 30 January.

Security officers found the device, which was made from batteries, the barrel of a marker pen and pins, within the zip lining of the small green suitcase Muhammad was carrying.

Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting, told the trial at Manchester Crown Court: "The prosecution say that on January 30 this year the defendant attempted to carry an assembled and viable improvised explosive device through security at Manchester Airport and onto the Ryanair flight with which he was booked to fly to Bergamo, or Milan, in Italy.

"The only reason he would have for trying to get that explosive device onto the aeroplane was that he intended to detonate it within the confines of the Boeing 737 aircraft."

When airport security swabbed the bomb they found no trace of explosive on the outside and officers did not believe it was a viable device.

Muhammad said the device may have been placed into his bag by his wife or another person.

He was allowed to return home and on 5 February boarded another flight to Italy.

Mr Sandiford said: "At that stage nobody had realised this was a real device and the defendant was allowed to go on his way."

On 8 February, when the device was examined again, suspicions were raised and the bomb squad was called.

The explosive was sent for examination by expert Lorna Philp, who found it was a "crude but potentially viable improvised explosive device" and Muhammad was arrested when he returned to the UK on 12 February.

Mr Sandiford said the explosive, which experts said would have been "unreliable" and "unpredictable", would have detonated if wires protruding from either end of the tube had been connected to each other.

He said the prosecution could not be sure if terrorism was the motive.

"That may be the most likely motive but equally it could be a desire to commit suicide or another purpose altogether," he said.

Muhammad, of Bury, Greater Manchester, denies possession of explosives with intent to endanger life or property and an alternative charge of possession of explosives under suspicious circumstances.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA