In the quiet Birmingham cul-de-sac where Mohammed Alfatih Naim lived with his family, neighbours regularly watched them come and go without attracting attention.
The softly spoken father of four appeared to be an ordinary IT consultant, travelling to work or visiting the nearby High Street, with its chain shops, cafés and bars. Among them is the Hare and Hounds pub, where UB40 performed their first gig in 1979.
Residents in Kings Heath had no idea that the man living among them, also known as Mohammed Alfatih, had allegedly once served as a bodyguard to a Hamas leader and was now wanted by Germany over claims that he led a European terror plot.
His journeys, however, took him considerably farther than his neighbours realised.
An indictment drawn up by prosecutors in Berlin alleges that, between 2023 and 2025, Alfatih made repeated trips to Turkey, Egypt and Qatar — countries said to host Hamas ‘command centres’ outside Gaza.
He is accused of moving weapons and ammunition from the German capital to a storage site in Vienna in preparation for an attack on Jewish people or Israeli diplomats, reportedly planned to coincide with the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre.
German investigators foiled the alleged plot after several suspects were arrested following a tip-off from Mossad. Had the plan gone ahead, it would have represented Hamas’s first attack on mainland Europe.
After being convicted yesterday at Birmingham Crown Court over an assault on a bailiff, Alfatih now faces extradition proceedings.
Mohammed Alfatih told the court that he left Gaza for Britain in 2014 and was granted asylum the following year
After securing asylum, Alfatih established a life in Britain and set up at least one IT company in Birmingham
Carrying a knife, Alfatih was filmed lunging at bailiff Kevin Bucknall as he sat in the driver’s seat of his van
Born in Erlangen, Germany, near the place where his father trained as a doctor, Alfatih told jurors last week that he moved to Gaza as a child. He said he endured a ‘very, very tough childhood’ as one of seven siblings.
He described being shot twice by Israeli soldiers. During his second trip to hospital, in Alexandria, Egypt, he said he met his wife, who was working as a nurse.
The court heard that Alfatih began studying logistics management in Egypt. However, press reports from the Middle East at the time indicated that he had been detained for five months over allegations that he operated a weapons-smuggling tunnel into Gaza.
Alfatih told jurors he was tortured during 25 days in captivity and lost almost nine stone in weight.
He said he left Gaza for the UK in 2014 and was granted asylum the next year. His wife joined him in 2016.
The couple, who now have three children under the age of ten, were granted British citizenship in 2020, he said. Alfatih also has a child from a previous relationship.
He told the court that his first job in Britain was at Dunlop, where he made aircraft tyres ‘while also doing more studies’.
Alfatih said he started working as a network engineer in late 2017 or early 2018. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he spent the past four years working in IT for a catering company, while an online CV suggests he previously held roles with Virgin Trains, Samsung and Direct Line.
Alfatih is pictured beside Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh outside the al-Omari mosque in Gaza City in May 2006
Alfatih was photographed stewarding a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in London in April 2022
The Mail has established that Alfatih lived in Oxford for a period before relocating to Birmingham, where he founded an IT company in 2018 with a friend he met at evening college. The pair were studying advanced computer technology.
His former business partner said the company’s bank account quickly drew the attention of branch officials after it began receiving payments from overseas.
The former associate told the Mail: ‘Mohammed already worked in IT and said he could bring in contracts. He suggested that we start a business together, and I thought it sounded sensible.
‘We never secured any contracts, but about a week after the business account was opened, I received a call from Lloyds Bank.
‘They said the account had been flagged because of international payments and instructed me to visit my nearest branch.
‘I told them I knew nothing about it and that it had nothing to do with me. They said they understood it was linked to him [Alfatih] and removed the red flags placed against my name.
‘I asked what would happen to the account and was told it would have to be closed.
‘I was furious and called him to ask what on earth he was doing. He said he would come over and explain, but I never heard from him again and did not see him after that.’
The man, who asked not to be identified, said he had met Alfatih after the pair were assigned a practical college exercise.
He added: ‘He told me he was from Palestine and said he had once worked as a bodyguard, although I do not know who he was protecting.’
While attending evening classes in computing and IT networking, Alfatih rented a smart end-of-terrace house on the ‘Pineapple’ estate in Stirchley with his wife and their young daughter.
They left in 2020 after the landlord decided to move back into the property and renovate it.
In what now appears to have foreshadowed Alfatih’s later disputes over money, the landlord said: ‘The main problems began after they moved out.
‘We started receiving letters and calls from bailiffs. It has continued ever since.
‘I am now afraid to answer the door in case it is a bailiff. It is just constant.’
Alfatih and his family subsequently moved to another rented property before settling in the fashionable Kings Heath suburb, where he allegedly attacked a bailiff who had arrived to recover unpaid parking-fine debt.
Yesterday, a neighbour described his shock at learning that he had been living next door to a man suspected of links to Hamas terrorism.
‘I cannot believe it,’ the man said. ‘We knew them well enough to say hello to, and his wife is still there with the children.
‘He has not been around for at least a year or so, which now explains why we had not seen him.
‘I was not at home when he was arrested over the bailiff incident, but it was obviously all anyone on the street could talk about.’
He added: ‘It is extremely worrying, to say the least, that a suspected Hamas terrorist was living among us.’
Alfatih’s former landlord in Oxford, where he lived in 2017, told the Mail that he believed Alfatih may have been studying at Oxford Brookes University.
Muqarab Shabbir, 44, rented one of four rooms in a terraced house to Alfatih. He said: ‘He stayed at my house for just over two months but did not pay the rent, so I told him he would have to leave.
‘He said he would pay me if I found him a flat. He needed somewhere larger because he had a wife.’
Mr Shabbir recalled that Alfatih ate a series of takeaway meals despite saying he could not afford the rent.
‘He did not seem like a bad person, apart from failing to pay the rent. I remember an argument in the street once, and he stepped in to break up the fight. I saw it myself because I happened to be walking past.
‘I would never have expected him to be arrested for anything.’
Oxford Brookes University said it could not confirm whether Alfatih had been a student because of ‘confidentiality and data protection requirements’.