Birmingham terror ringleader gets five life sentences for plot (Left to right) Irfan Khalid, Irfan Naseer and Ashik Ali (PA) Pharmacy graduate and bombmaker, Naseer was today given a life sentence for each of the five terrorist offences connected to the planned bombing campaign. He was told he would spend a minimum of 18 years before being eligible for parole and to expect to spend many years more than that behind bars. Sentencing him at Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Justice Henriques said Naseer was an "intelligent man" who was the "leader" and "driving force" behind the group. He said while the man, who is overweight and nicknamed "Chubbs," was an "unlikely foot solider," he was a "highly skilful bombmaker." Naseer and Khalid had undertaken terror training in Pakistan, where they made martyrdom videos to be released by al-Qaeda after they had blown themselves up. In a first for the UK, Naseer had planned to extract ammonium nitrate - used as a main explosive, from sports injury cold packs. Although no target was settled on, Ali told police they had planned to attack soldiers but they also talked about hitting "crowded places" and turning a Birmingham street in to a "little war zone." The men were secretly recorded by MI5 and police for two months in 2011 and were heard criticising the July 7 bombers, who killed 52 innocent people, for not doing "enough damage." They also considered other forms of attack such as putting poison in hand cream to rub on car and door handles or even putting blades on the front of a vehicle and driving it in to a crowd of people. The gang raised more than £20,000 by claiming to be collecting for Muslim Aid to fund their atrocity but lost large parts of it after investing it in the foreign exchange markets. Rahin Ahmed, 28, the group's chief fundraiser who lost the money previously pleaded guilty to fundraising and helping other travel to Pakistan for terror training. Four other men, Naweed Ali, 24; Ishaaq Hussain, 20; Khobaib Hussain, 20 and Shahid Khan, 20, admitted travelling to Pakistan in August 2011. Mujahid Hussain, 21, who was heavily involved in raising money for terrorism, pleaded guilty to a charge of fundraising. Mohammed Rizwan, 29, and Bahader Ali, 34, who is Ashik's brother, admitted obtaining material for terrorist purposes.