A convicted terrorist who plotted to bomb Bluewater shopping centre has been deported to Pakistan.

Jawad Akbar, now 41, was jailed for life in 2007 for his role in an Al-Qaeda-linked terror plot targeting the Greenhithe complex as well as London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub and even attempting to create a radioactive “dirty bomb.”

Akbar, originally from Crawley in West Sussex, was just 23 when he was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions after a major counterterrorism operation uncovered his gang’s plans.

The attacks, planned in 2004, could have killed hundreds of innocent people.

He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 17-and-a-half years. Despite being deemed too dangerous for release by the Parole Board in 2022, it has now emerged Akbar was deported to Pakistan in the last year.

The Home Office confirmed the deportation, believed to have taken place under a 2019 “returns agreement” signed between the UK and Pakistan. The agreement, spearheaded by then-Home Secretary Priti Patel, aimed to remove foreign criminals and immigration offenders.

At the time, Ms Patel said: “I make no apology for removing dangerous foreign criminals and immigration offenders who have no right to remain in the UK. The British public have quite rightly had enough of people abusing our laws and gaming the system so we can’t remove them.”

The Home Office refuses to comment on individual cases, but a spokesperson said: "Foreign nationals who commit heinous crimes should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain's streets, including removal from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.

“Since the election we’ve removed 3,594 foreign criminals, a 16% increase on the same period 12 months prior.”

Akbar was originally earmarked for deportation to Italy, where his father holds citizenship, but ultimately he was returned to his birth country, Pakistan.

The would-be bomber was part of a five-man cell of British-born or British-resident extremists of Pakistani heritage, all linked to Al-Qaeda. Alongside Akbar, the gang included Waheed Mahmood, Omar Khyam, Anthony Garcia, and Salahuddin Amin who were all jailed for life at their 2007 trial.

The group’s homemade bomb design, made from cheap household chemicals like ammonium nitrate and aluminium powder, mirrored the deadly device used by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people in 1995.

During sentencing, Judge Sir Michael Astill QC told the men: “All of you were determined to cause indiscriminate death, injury and suffering of unsuspecting and innocent members of the community.”

The judge noted their targets were busy, public places designed to maximise harm — from Bluewater to the Ministry of Sound — but their plot was foiled by security services and police before they could act.

Not all members of the cell remain behind bars, with Waheed Mahmood and Anthony Garcia being freed on parole earlier this year, while Salahuddin Amin had a parole request rejected in February.