Etihad bomb plot lands Sydney brothers in jail

East Hills, NY, USA - February 18, 2017: Etihad Airways A380 aircraft approaching JFK International Airport in New York City.

Two brothers have been sentenced to at least 30 and 27 years respectively over a plot to blow up an Etihad flight in 2017.

Khaled Khayat, 52, and Mahmoud Khayat were found guilty in May of plotting a terrorist attack on an international flight out of Sydney Airport with a bomb concealed in a meat grinder.

The Sydney-based brothers, whose plot included their older brother Tarek Khayat who fought for Islamic State in Syria, involved a lethal poisonous gas attack using a bomb hidden in the luggage of their reportedly unsuspecting brother, Amer Khayat, according to the The Sydney Morning Herald.

However, their plan was thwarted when their luggage was found to be overweight.

Khaled Khayat was sentenced to 40 years and Mahmoud Khyat for 36, with non-parole periods of 30 and 27 years respectively.

According to Justice Christine Adamson, the brother’s crime jeopardised the sense of safety the community was entitled to experience.

“That no one suffered physical injury or was killed does not make it other than extremely serious,” the judge said, as reported by SMH.

“The objective seriousness was very high for each offender.”

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