Man let off butane gas on city trams

'MALICIOUS' ACTS CAUSED 'DISTRESS AND ALARM'

- By ANDREW BARDSLEY

Ghalib Saeed

A MASKED man let off butane gas on trams in 'malicious' acts which caused Metrolink passengers 'distress and alarm.

Ghalib Saeed, 31, boarded trams on three separate days while wearing a mask, and stashing a canister of butane gas in a rucksack. Passengers were alarmed by the mask and some were left lightheaded and nauseous after smelling gas.

Saeed has now been jailed for three years and two months after admitting the bizarre crime. Judge Elizabeth Nicholls told Saeed as she sentenced him at Manchester Crown Court: "These were planned and malicious acts intending to cause serious distress and alarm to your fellow passengers."

Prosecuting, Henry Blackshaw said that Saeed boarded a tram on three days, once on March 15, and March 20, and on two occasions on March 22 last year.

He said that a later interrogation of Saeed's phone revealed that the defendant had been making internet searches about gas in the days before. The prosecutor said that Saeed also searched 'white areas of Manchester.