A PhD student in the UK has been found guilty of 3D-printing a chemical weapon drone in his bedroom for a terrorist attack

• A PhD engineering student in the UK built a bomb-capable drone for ISIS, authorities said.
• Mohamad al-Bared was found guilty on Thursday of 3D printing the drone in support of ISIS.

A Ph.D. engineering student in the UK was found guilty on Thursday of building a drone to deliver an explosive warhead for the Islamic State.

Mohamad al-Bared, 26, pieced the drone together in a bedroom at his home in Coventry using components created with his 3D printer, the authorities said in a statement.

Al-Bared manufactured the drone "specifically to transport an explosive or chemical weapon into enemy territory for ISIS," the statement added.

Officers raided Al Bared's home on January 31, and found the drone, his 3D printer, and notebooks filled with recipes for chemical weapons, police said.

"Following intricate analysis of these devices, detectives revealed a series of conversations on his devices clearly demonstrating his support for ISIS as well as extremist material and violent propaganda videos," the police statement added.

Al-Bared denied in court that he was supporting ISIS and said the drone was for his own research, per the BBC. He studied laser drilling at Birmingham University.

His lawyer, Alistair Webster, said in August that al-Bared was gathering material on ISIS because he was researching the terror organization to debate against its views and turn others away from violence.

"He accepts he is fascinated by Islamic State and its mindset, but rather than supporting it, he wanted to argue against it, in the mosque, online," Webster said, per The Birmingham Mail.

But the police said they found records of al-Bared researching how to get his drone sent to a war zone. The authorities also alleged that he started a faux company so he could travel while pretending to go abroad for business.

"He had researched chemical weapons including ricin, sarin, and mustard gas," said Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, who leads the counter-terrorism police department in the West Midlands.

"Our assumption is that he intended to deploy the drone and the chemical agents abroad," Payne added. "The defense that he was using his research to de-radicalize people, that was clearly a pack of lies. Clear evidence from our case was that he was intent on causing harm to people. "

Prosecutor Michelle Heeley said in court that al-Bared had tried to copy the design of a Tomahawk missile, according to the BBC.

The Tomahawk is a long-range cruise missile often fired from ships or submarines, and is used by the UK and US military.

His drone would have been able to carry a thermos flask with chemical weapons or explosives, and was designed to fly into a crowd or building, Heeley said, per Sky News.

"It was a prototype being developed, something that could easily be built in the field, by the 'brothers,' each drone being sent on its way to kill innocent people," said Heeley, according to the outlet.

Al-Bared is set to be sentenced on November 27.

33 Chancery Lane, the law firm for al-Bared's lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.