Life sentence for ringleader of 11 men planning a wave of UK suicide bombings The ringleader of a Birmingham-based extremist cell was jailed for life today after a plot was uncovered to unleash a wave of coordinated suicide bombers in Britain. Irfan Naseer, 31, will serve at least 18 years in prison before being considered for release for masterminding a plot to send up to eight armed suicide bombers into crowds of people with rucksacks stuffed full of explosives. The skilled bomb-maker and his accomplices were stopped from carrying out the attack only by an operation conducted by counter-terrorism officers from West Midlands police, Woolwich Crown Court was told. Police believe it was the most significant terror plot to be uncovered since the 2006 conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners using bombs disguised as soft drinks. Mr Justice Henriques told Naseer - a heavyweight terrorist known as Chubbs - that he was the "leader, driving force and man in charge" of the plot. The judge told him that he alone should take responsibility for sending four aspiring jihadists to Pakistan for terror training. The four returned just three days later after a relative got wind of the real reason for their journey and have since pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. "Your plot had the blessing of al Qaida and you intended to further the aims of al-Qa'ida," said the judge at Woolwich Crown Court. Naseer was part of new wave of British extremists who travelled abroad for training at al-Qa'ida camps in Pakistan with the sole aim of returning to carry out attacks in the UK. He and his closest accomplice Irfan Khalid, 28, recorded martyrdom videos in Pakistan, which have not been recovered but were intended to be released after any attack. Khalid was jailed for 23 years and the third key player in the plot, Ashik Ali, 28, who remained in Britain but supplied the premises for the bomb-making factory, was jailed for 20 years. They will both have to serve of their sentences before they can be released on licence. The judge said Khalid had been under the influence of Naseer. "The sooner you are separated from him, the better," he said. The attack plans were captured on bugging devices hidden in two cars and their bomb-making factory after the two senior planners returned from Pakistan. The bragged about the damage they would cause and criticised the 2005 suicide attackers in the London transport bombings for failing to kill more because they had not put nails into their devices. In the first known case of a potential suicide bomber making a part-confession to British anti-terror police, Ali, told police attacks against soldiers had been considered but the group never identified a target. They had spoken of mixing poison with hand cream and smearing it on car doors overnight to trigger a mass killing when they headed to work in the morning. Inspired by an extremist magazine, they also spoke of attaching blades to a truck and driving it into crowds of people. The group was inspired by the US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen several weeks after the men were arrested.