Years later, German federal prosecutors would describe a British national identified as Mohammed A. as a prominent figure in an alleged Hamas operation to acquire and store weapons for attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe.
The Times says it cannot name the man because a British court has restricted his identification in separate criminal proceedings in the UK. Foreign reporting, however, has identified the suspect in the German case as Mohammed Naim, the son of senior Hamas official Bassem Naim. German newspaper WELT reported in November 2025 that he had previously served as Haniyeh's bodyguard and published a 2007 photograph showing Mohammed Naim beside the then-Hamas leader.
What German prosecutors allege
In an official statement in November 2025, Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor said British national Mohammed A. had been arrested in London under a German warrant. Prosecutors said he was strongly suspected of membership in Hamas.
According to the warrant, Mohammed A. allegedly met another suspect twice in Berlin in the summer of 2025, received five handguns and ammunition, transported the weapons to Austria and stored them in Vienna. Prosecutors said the operation was intended to prepare attacks on Israeli or Jewish facilities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
Austria's domestic intelligence service said at the time that it had uncovered a weapons cache in Vienna attributed to Hamas's foreign operational structures. Authorities said five handguns and ten magazines were seized.
The case has since widened. On September 11, 2026, German federal prosecutors announced charges against seven additional suspects in the weapons-procurement investigation. They alleged that Hamas's military wing had been planning an attack since at least July 2025, with a target date around the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Potential targets, according to prosecutors, included representatives of Israel, Jewish people and individuals regarded as pro-Israel in Germany or Austria.
By October 1, 2025, prosecutors said the group had allegedly obtained one functioning fully automatic rifle, 13 functioning handguns and more than 700 rounds of ammunition. Mohammed A. is being prosecuted separately. The September 2026 statement said he had played a prominent role, was connected to Hamas's leadership level, moved some of the weapons to Vienna and recorded a pre-made claim-of-responsibility video announcing the planned attack in Hamas's name.
As of September 11, 2026, German authorities said he had not yet been transferred from Britain. Hamas has denied links to the suspects arrested in the case.
The Times: From asylum to British citizenship
The new element in The Times report is the man's immigration history in Britain. The newspaper says he was granted asylum, later obtained indefinite leave to remain and eventually became a British citizen. It also reports that he lived in Britain, worked in IT and changed his name more than once.
Those immigration records are not public, and this package does not contain an official Home Office file confirming the path described by the newspaper. For that reason, the asylum, settlement and citizenship details should remain explicitly attributed to The Times.
The report nevertheless creates an obvious question for British authorities: what information about his earlier activities was known, or reasonably available, when his applications were assessed?
A 2010 Egyptian report had already linked Naim to Haniyeh
There is an older layer to the story. In September 2010, Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, citing Egyptian security sources, reported that Mohammed Naim - described at the time as Haniyeh's bodyguard and the son of Bassem Naim - had been detained in Egypt months earlier.
The report alleged that investigators were examining suspected involvement in a smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt and in moving money and gold. Other reports at the time also alleged involvement in smuggling people wanted in terrorism cases.
Those reports did not establish a conviction. A Hamas-linked Palestinian outlet published a competing account saying Naim had been detained without charges and suggesting the arrest was connected to his family background. The 2010 episode therefore remains a historical allegation, not a proven criminal judgment.
Its relevance today is narrower but significant: Mohammed Naim's name and reported proximity to Hamas's leadership were publicly discussed well over a decade before the 2025 European investigation.
One case, three separate evidentiary layers
The story requires careful separation of three issues. The first is The Times reporting on how the man obtained legal status and citizenship in Britain. The second is the identification of Mohammed A. as Mohammed Naim, which comes from foreign media reporting including WELT. The third is the German criminal case, where prosecutors allege involvement in weapons procurement and preparations for attacks; those allegations have not yet been adjudicated.
Taken together, the reports create a broader security question. A man who had lived legally in Britain and appears to have passed through several stages of immigration and citizenship review later became a major suspect in a European terrorism investigation. If the British immigration details are fully substantiated, attention is likely to turn to what background information was available to UK authorities, whether it was assessed, and whether any warning signs were missed.
