*LONDON: A 28-year-old man was sentenced Friday to a minimum of 40 years injail for making explosives for the Taliban and for plotting a knife attackat the Houses of Parliament in London.*

Khalid Ali, from north London, was dramatically arrested by armed police ona street outside parliament in April 2017 with three blades tucked into hisclothes.

He was moments from launching an attack on police, politicians or themilitary, England’s Old Bailey central criminal court in London heardduring his trial last month.

The plumber was on Tuesday found guilty of preparing terrorist acts inBritain and two charges of possessing explosive substances with intentabroad.

On Friday, judge Nicholas Hilliard handed Ali three life sentences, to runconcurrently: one for each charge.

He gave a minimum of 40 years for making improvised explosive devices forthe Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan in 2012 and 25 years for the plot tokill in Britain.

“I am absolutely sure you were in Afghanistan. You were a valued member ofa team making IEDs that were detonated in combat before January and July2012,” Hilliard said.

The judge said the plotted attack in London was designed to attract“maximum publicity and instil terror”.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that there is a very considerable risk of yourcommitting offences of violence in the future and cause death or seriousinjury as a result.”

During the trial, prosecutor Brian Altman told jurors that Ali, who hadreturned to Britain from Afghanistan in late 2016, planned a “deadly terrorattack at the very heart of this country’s democracy”.

Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Dean Haydon said he was“an incredibly dangerous individual”.

He had returned from a training camp in Afghanistan “with a determinationto kill,” he added.

During his trial, the court heard Ali admitted involvement in makingexplosives in Afghanistan, even bragging he detonated more than 300 devices.

In November 2016, he was stopped at Heathrow Airport, interviewed by policeand his fingerprints and DNA samples were taken.

The FBI in the United States subsequently matched his fingerprints tocaches of explosives recovered by Afghan forces in 2012, and Ali was placedunder surveillance in Britain.

The Old Bailey heard he was seen conducting reconnaissance at various sitesaround London in March and April last year, before making several purchasesof knives.

Police moved in to arrest Ali on April 27 not far from Prime MinisterTheresa May’s Downing Street office. – APP/AFP