EXCLUSIVE Two ‘street criminals’ jailed for providing deadly handgun and silencer for ISIS-inspired drive-by shooting have been freed from prison
Two criminals who supplied a deadly handgun and silencer to a pair of British-educated terrorists who planned to slaughter UK soldiers in drive-by shootings have been freed from jail.
Nyall Hamlett and Nathan Cuffy served just over four and a half and five years respectively for supplying the powerful handgun to medical student and plot leader Tarik Hassane – known by his friends as ‘The Surgeon’.
Hassane and his childhood friend Suhaib Majeed, both from west London, intended to execute soldiers, police officers and even civilians in a series of drive-by shootings inspired by ISIS. All were jailed in April 2016.
The four were all snared as part of Operation Exactness, described in 2016 as one of the most significant counter-terrorism investigations conducted in the UK. Knowledge of the proposed attack made officials raise the UK threat level to severe.
The trial at the Old Bailey in London heard that Cuffy had an arsenal of five guns he held at his home and supplied a Baikal self-loading pistol, silencer and ammunition to Hamlett.
Nyall Hamlett (left) and Nathan Cuffy (right) served just over four and a half and five years respectively for supplying the powerful handgun to medical student and plot leader Tarik Hassane – known by his friends as ‘The Surgeon’.
Hassane (pictured with a pistol) and his childhood friend Suhaib Majeed, both from west London , intended to execute soldiers, police officers and even civilians in a series of drive-by shootings inspired by ISIS. All were jailed in April 2016.
Majeed (left) and Hassane are pictured shaking hands while under surveillance by police
Hamlett, then 25, a British Muslim convert who was a former Catholic alter boy, knew Majeed and Hassane through the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in Ladbroke Grove, west London, where he used to work as a cook.
The mosque later emerged as a focal point of a network of ISIS extremists which included Mohammed Emwazi – AKA Jihadi John – and two other men, together known as ‘the Beatles’ by the captives they tortured in Syria.
READ MORE: Medical student accused of ISIS-inspired drive-by shooting ‘posed with gun and Osama bin Laden book’ as he plotted
Ringleader Hassane – a physics undergraduate at Kings College London – worked with Majeed to get a gun and moped for what would be a drive-by attack. The pair communicated secretly through social media apps.
Hamlett, who had a criminal record, supplied the gun to Majeed, though both he and Cuffy, then 26, denied knowing what it was going to be used for. They were found not guilty by a jury of being part of the terror plot.
They admitted firearms offences and Hamlett was given six and a half years in jail while Cuffy received 11 years.
Sentencing Hamlett, judge Mr Justice Wilkie said: ‘Of course you were not aware that they were to be used for terrorist murder but you did anticipate that they would be deployed for criminal purposes and, inevitably, that a firearm with silencer and ammunition would be used in circumstance whereby life may be endangered.
In sentencing Cuffy, the judge said that it was apparent that the ‘street criminal’ had for nearly a year provided a safekeeping ‘service for three serious criminals as a repository for five firearms and associated ammunition and a silencer.’
He added: ‘You were an integral part of the way in which these three serious criminals organised their criminal activities.
Hassane (left) and Majeed (right) are both pictured after being arrested by police for planning an ISIS-inspired terror attack
Majeed is photographed by undercover police sitting under a tree in Regents Park, London, using an encrypted communication programme on his laptop
Hassane (pictured) poses with a handgun in a photo found on Majeed’s mobile phone by police
‘You were trusted to keep safe and deliver up, on instruction, firearms…. the deadly means by which those criminals might advance their serious criminal endeavours and which, as you knew and intended, may well endanger life.’
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed to MailOnline that Hamlet’s release was recommended by the Parole Board in December 2020 and Cuffy in July 2021. They were subsequently freed.
A spokesperson for the Parole Board said:’We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board directed the release of Nyall Hamlett following an oral hearing in December 2020.
‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.’
A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: ‘We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board directed the release of Nathan Cuffy following an oral hearing in July 2021.’
The court was told that Hamlett, Cuffy and Majeed were arrested in September 2014. They had been under surveillance by the police and MI5.
Hassane, a medical student who split his time between London and university in Sudan, was out of the country. Dubbed The Surgeon by friends, he later came home to continue his planning.
Tarik Hassane, Suhaib Majeed, Nyall Hamlett and Nathan Cuffy pictured in the dock at the Old Bailey during their trial for terrorist offences
The pair of wannabe terrorists had wanted to try and kill soldiers at this Army Reserve base in London in a Lee Rigby-inspired terror attack
Hassane (pictured) was part of a terror gang who plotted to kill a soldier, police officer or member of the public in a ‘drive-by’ shooting
The court heard he was immersed in extremist ideology and aspired to kill in London months before ISIS urged supporters in the West to carry out such attacks.
Counter-terrorism detectives discovered he had identified Shepherd’s Bush police station and the Parachute Regiment Army Reserve barracks at White City as possible targets on Google Street View.
Armed police swooped on Hassane’s west London home in the early hours of October 7, 2014, as they attempted to avert a terrorist attack on the capital.
It was when they examined Majeed’s phones that they discovered the pair had been part of encrypted discussions on social media, including as part of a group calling itself the Turnup Terror Squad.
It was here they found Hassane had pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State group.
Majeed, then 22, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and preparation of terrorist acts after Hassane, 22, admitted the charges midway through the Old Bailey trial.
Mr Justice Wilkie jailed Hassane for a minimum of 21 years and Majeed for a minimum of 20 years.
The judge told them: ‘It is shocking, tragic and deplorable that you, two young British men, educated through the UK school system, undertaking university courses, should be so influenced by the bloodthirsty version of Islam presented by ISIS and other similarly minded groups, that you decided to take up arms against your fellow British citizens and those charged with protecting them in the streets of your own city.’
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