King’s student was an ‘essential cog’ in foiled terror plot

A KCL graduate has appeared in court charged with terror offences.

Ex-King’s student Suhaib Majeed was described by prosecutors as being an “essential cog in the machine” of a plot to  murder police officers and soldiers in one or more ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks on London streets.

Majeed, along with Tarik Hassane, Nyall Hamlett and Momem Motasim, was arrested in counter-terror raids last year – to the shock of the King’s community.

Now, the four men are on trial at the Old Bailey after denying charges of conspiracy to murder and preparation of terrorist acts.

Majeed, Motasim, and a fifth man, Nathan Cuffy, were also charged with firearms offences.

On 15 September 2014 Met police detectives burst into Majeed’s apartment in Marylebone’s Church Street Estate and found a semi-automatic handgun, silencer and ammunition.

Majeed and his associates appeared before the Westminster Magistrates court on 17 October 2014, and on the same day all King’s students received an email from the College administration about the incident.

21-year-old Suhaib Majeed had been studying for an MSci in Physics at King’s. He graduated from Westminster City School and started his programme in 2012, where he joined the KCL Islamic Society.

He is close friends with ringleader Tarik Hassane, who was himself offered a conditional offer to study Biomedical Sciences at King’s in 2013 but instead chose to study in Sudan.

Majeed was responsible for setting up the communications of the group of men through the app Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform used by ISIS to claim responsibility for the October Paris attacks and the recent attacks in Jakarta.

Communications via Telegram cannot be monitored or disrupted by government surveillance.

Suhaib Majeed named the chat group “Turnup Terror Squad” and on 10 July 2014 Hassane allegedly posted: “Make dua that Tarik gets a free fat strap.” The prosecution cited this as an example of mixed street and Arabic slang to mean “pray that he gets a free cool gun”.

At the time of arrest Hassane and Majeed were discussing buying a £2,000 moped that could not be traced back to them, as well as a garage to store their equipment.

Often Hassane would travel between the UK and Sudan and issue instructions to Majeed from abroad to make preparations for the attack. Police also found on Majeed’s iPhone pictures of Hassane posing holding a gun on one hand and a book on Osama bin Laden on the other, the court heard.

Prosecutor Brian Altman QC said: “The evidence points to this being a plot to kill, a plot to execute a policeman or a soldier or as I say even an ordinary member of the public, in one or more assassinations either involving a drive-by shooting or a shooting on foot and then a speedy escape by moped.”

The trial continues.