Travel bans considered to stop Britons from training for terrorism overseas

    Criminals in Britain could be barred from traveling to countries suspected of harboring terrorist camps after it emerged that the leader of a 2005 bombing plot against London’s transit system had been allowed to go to Pakistan despite facing minor charges in Britain. Failed bomber Muktar Said Ibrahim was an Eritrean refugee offered a British passport in 2004, a fact that has fueled fresh debate in Britain over border controls and immigration. Ibrahim, 29, was among four men sentenced Wednesday to life in prison in the attempted bombings, which came two weeks after July 7, 2005, suicide attacks that killed 52 commuters on three London subway cars and a bus. Though Ibrahim had prior convictions for assault and at the time of a 2004 trip to Pakistan was charged in a disturbance while he was distributing extremist leaflets, authorities granted him British citizenship and allowed him to travel freely. The conclusion of the trial in the failed bombing came weeks after more failed attacks involving immigrants the attempted car bombings June 29-30 in London’s entertainment district and at Glasgow’s airport.

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