Overview
- A jury at Inner London Crown Court convicted Sakhile Ntsele of eight counts of making explosive substances for unlawful purposes after an 11-day trial.
- Ntsele previously pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition without a certificate and five counts of possessing a firearm without a certificate, and he was cleared of other charges.
- Police first searched his home on October 27, 2024 after a reported assault involving a homemade sword, recovering seven improvised explosive devices and five firearms with ammunition.
- Investigators found he spent hundreds of hours watching tutorials and used a relative’s credit card under pseudonyms to buy materials including steel balls and potassium nitrate.
- He had earlier come to police attention in 2021 with 55 rounds of ammunition, some modified with nails, and a homemade gun seized in 2024 was later tested and found to be functioning as officers warned about dangerous online material.