A British citizen who was arrested in London in November 2025 over an alleged Hamas plot to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe previously served as a bodyguard for slain Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, The Sunday Times reported Sunday, citing newly disclosed details about the suspect’s background.
Mohammed A., 39, was arrested by British authorities on Nov. 3, 2025, under a German warrant issued Oct. 16. German prosecutors announced the arrest on Nov. 6. He remains in Britain while Germany seeks his extradition, and German authorities said this month that he had not yet been transferred.
The Sunday Times reported exclusively that Mohammed had served in Haniyeh’s security detail and was the son of a senior Hamas official. The newspaper said he arrived in Britain after previously being arrested in Egypt in connection with a tunnel allegedly used to smuggle weapons and gold into Gaza. He later received refugee status and British citizenship and worked as an information technology consultant.
German prosecutors accuse Mohammed of membership in Hamas and of helping transport weapons intended for possible attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany.
Prosecutors allege that he met another suspected Hamas member twice in Berlin during the summer of 2025, received five handguns and ammunition and transported them to Vienna. Austrian authorities later recovered five pistols and 10 magazines from a rented storage facility.
The case forms part of a broader investigation into an alleged Hamas weapons network in Europe. German authorities this month charged seven other suspected members of the group, saying the network obtained a fully automatic rifle, 13 handguns and more than 700 rounds of ammunition.
Federal Prosecutor General Jens Rommel said in June that investigators had also recovered “a pre-produced claim-of-responsibility video” announcing an attack around the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Hamas has denied involvement in the alleged European plot.
If Mohammed is extradited, German prosecutors say he will be brought before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice.
