Secret life of softly-spoken family man whose neighbours had no idea he was an ex-Hamas bodyguard accused of plotting to murder Jews in Europe

In their quiet Birmingham cul-de-sac, neighbours would regularly see Mohammed Alfatih and his family come and go, never troubling anyone.

The softly spoken father of four was, to them, your run-of-the-mill IT consultant, taking trips to work or the nearby high street – home to chain stores, cafes and bars, including the Hare and Hounds pub, where UB40 played their first gig in 1979.

Residents in the Kings Heath district had no clue that the man in their midst was once bodyguard to a fierce Hamas leader and was now sought by Germany as the alleged ringleader of a European terror plot.

For Alfatih’s trips out took him further than they realised.

According to an indictment prepared by prosecutors in Berlin, between 2023 and 2025, Alfatih allegedly made numerous journeys to Turkey, Egypt and Qatar – locations it is said were home to Hamas ‘command centres’ outside Gaza.

The 40-year-old is accused of transporting weapons and ammunition from the German capital to a storage facility in Vienna ahead of a planned attack on Jews or Israeli diplomats to coincide with the second anniversary of the October 7 slaughter.

Had the plot not been foiled by German investigators, with several suspects rounded up following a tip-off from Mossad, it would have been Hamas’ first-ever attack in mainland Europe. 

Following his conviction at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday over an attack on a bailiff, Alfatih now faces extradition proceedings.

Born in Erlangen, Germany, close to where his father trained as a physician, Alfatih told jurors last week how he moved as a child to Gaza, where he said he endured a ‘very, very tough childhood’ as one of seven siblings.

He described being shot twice by Israeli soldiers. It was as he sought hospital treatment on the second occasion, in Alexandria, Egypt, that he met his wife, a nurse.

The court heard Alfatih began studying logistics management in Egypt but press reports from the Middle East at the time suggest he was held for five months, for allegedly operating a weapons-smuggling tunnel into Gaza.

He told jurors he was tortured for 25 days while in captivity, losing almost nine stone.

Alfatih claimed in court that he left Gaza for the UK in 2014 and was granted asylum the following year, with his wife joining him in 2016. The couple, who now have three children under ten, were granted citizenship in 2021, he said. Alfatih also has a child from an earlier relationship.

He went on to tell the court that he first worked at Dunlop making aircraft tyres ‘while also doing more studies’.

Alfatih said he began working as a network engineer in late 2017 or early 2018. A profile on LinkedIn suggests he has spent the past four years working in IT for a catering company, while an online CV also suggests he previously spent time working at Virgin Trains, Samsung and Direct Line.

The Daily Mail has established that Alfatih lived for a time in Oxford before moving to Birmingham, where he set up an IT business in 2018 with a friend he met at an evening college. Both were studying advanced computer technology.

But his business partner said the company’s bank account immediately attracted the attention of branch officials when it began receiving payments from abroad.

The former associate told the Mail: ‘Mohammed already had a job in IT and said he could attract contracts. He said it would be a good idea to go into business, and I thought it made sense. 

‘We didn’t get any contracts but I did get a call from Lloyds Bank about a week after the business account was set up. They said it had been flagged over international money coming in and I was told to report to my nearest branch.

‘I told them I had no knowledge and this was nothing to do with me. They said they realised it was connected to him [Alfatih] and they removed the red flags they had placed against my name.

‘I asked what would happen to the account and they said it would have to be closed. I was furious with him about this and rang him to ask what on earth he was up to. He told me he would come over to explain but I never heard anything else from him and didn’t see him again.’

The man, who asked not to be named, added: ‘He told me he was from Palestine and said that at one point he had been a bodyguard. I don’t know who for.’

As he studied computing and IT networking at evening classes, Alfatih, his wife and his then-young daughter rented a smart end-of-terrace home on the ‘Pineapple’ estate in the city’s Stirchley suburb.

They moved out in 2020 after the landlord decided to move back into the house and renovate it.

But in a portent of what was to come for Alfatih and his run-ins over money, the landlord said: ‘The only problems we really had were after they moved out. We started getting letters and calls from bailiffs. It’s gone on ever since. I’m scared to answer my door now in case it’s bailiffs. It’s just constant stuff.’

Alfatih and his family moved to another rented house before ending up in the trendy Kings Heath suburb, where the attack on the bailiff took place.

Yesterday a neighbour told of his shock at discovering he was living alongside a potential Hamas terrorist.

‘I can’t believe it,’ the man said. ‘We knew them to say hello to… the wife is still there with the kids. He hasn’t been around for at least a year or so – now it makes sense why we haven’t seen him. I wasn’t home when they arrested him for the bailiff thing, but obviously it was the talk of the street.’ 

He added: ‘It’s pretty worrying to say the least that a suspected Hamas terrorist was one of our neighbours.’

Alfatih’s landlord in Oxford in 2017 told the Mail that he recalled him possibly being a student at Oxford Brookes University at the time.

Muqarab Shabbir, 44, who rented one of four rooms in a terraced property to Alfatih, said: ‘He stayed in my house for just over two months but he didn’t pay me the rent so I said he would have to leave.

‘He told me he would pay me if I could find him some kind of flat – he said he needed somewhere bigger.’

Mr Shabbir recalled that Alfatih dined on a succession of takeaway meals despite claiming he had no money for rent.

‘He didn’t seem a bad person, apart from not paying the rent. I remember there was an argument once in the road and he separated the fight. I saw this myself as I happened to be walking past. I wouldn’t expect him to be arrested for anything.’

Oxford Brookes said it could not confirm if Alfatih was a student ‘due to confidentiality and data protection requirements’.