An Algerian man accused of having links with al-Qaeda has been found guilty by a court in Belfast of downloading information on how to blow up a passenger jet.
Abbas Boutrab (27) was found guilty at Belfast Crown Court of possessing articles for purposes connected with terrorism.
They included 25 computer disks of detailed instruction on how to make a bomb and how to get on board a plane to blow up the aircraft.
The PSNI sent the instructions to the FBI, who followed them and produced a bomb that blew apart a mocked-up row of airline seats and tore through the aircraft skin beside them.
Boutrab had downloaded the information from the Internet on a computer in Belfast Central Library, the trial heard.
He was the first al-Qaeda suspect to be tried in the North under the non-jury court system, which had only previously been used for the trial of loyalist and republican terrorists.
Mr Justice Weatherup delivered three guilty verdicts after considering evidence during the six-week trial and said he would pass sentence on December 19.
The Algerian, who downloaded the information on January 23th, 2003, was arrested the following April when the disks were found during an immigration raid on his home outside Belfast.
PA