Two Isis 'jihadists' have been convicted of plotting to execute British soldiers, policemen and innocent members of the public, in drive-by shootings on mopeds.

Tarik Hassane, 22, of Princess Alice House, Dalgarno Way, Ladbroke Grove, and Suhaib Majeed, 21, of Cherwell House, Church Street Estate, Marylebone, were convicted of conspiring to commit a terrorist murder on Wednesday, March 23 at the Old Bailey.

Two other men, Nyall Hamlett, 25, of Hanwell House, Great Western Road, Paddington , and Nathan Cuffy, 26, of Sandbourne House, Dartmouth Close, Notting Hill, pleaded guilty to firearms offences.

They were found not guilty of conspiring to commit a terrorist murder.

The convictions follow an investigation by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, which found evidence that Hassane was the leader of the group.

Hassane pledged an oath of allegiance to Islamic State on July 9, 2014, and was determined to carry out a terrorist attack in the UK.

Majeed and Hassane, who are close friends, were central figures in the plot, researching and planning their attack using coded communications.

The court heard that Hamlett was the conduit, and Cuffy the armourer who supplied the gun from the stash of five firearms he had hidden in his house.

The Old Bailey heard how the jihadists plotted to commit terrorist murder

Majeed, Hamlet and Cuffy were arrested between 24 and 26 September 2014.

During these arrests and searches of their home addresses, police recovered five firearms and ammunition. One of these firearms, a Baikal pistol, had both a silencer and ammunition and was intended for use in the plot.

Hassane, a medical student known to his friends as ‘The Surgeon’ was studying in the Sudan when his accomplices were arrested, but returned home to the UK on September 30, 2014, still intent on his attack plan.

He continued online research of Shepherds Bush Police Station and the Parachute Regiment Territorial Army (TA) Centre in White City using Google Maps. He was arrested on October 7 2014.

Group downloaded apps to avoid detection on social media

Following the arrests, police uncovered the full extent of the planned plot.

Searches of addresses led to officers seizing hundreds of communication and storage devices.

Extensive examination of these identified key devices that included two iPads, a memory card, three USB sticks, two laptops, an external hard drive and seven phones.

These showed the group had been using various social media platforms across the devices with applications specifically downloaded to avoid detection.

Majeed downloaded encrypted software to talk to extremist groups overseas and whilst police have never confirmed where the person was, officers do know they were in the same time zone as Syria.

Islamic State law encouraged murder of soliders and police

Evidence downloaded from these devices graphically demonstrated the extreme mindset of Hassane and Majeed.

They had shared between them a Fatwa issued by Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani, a leading member of IS, encouraging the murder of soldiers, police, security and intelligence agents.

There were also many graphic images of beheadings and material in support of IS. These all provided valuable evidence of both the planning and the motivation of the plot which was put before the court.

The men were sufficiently advanced in their plans that prior to their arrest they had acquired a handgun, a silencer and ammunition and had plans to get a moped and identify somewhere to store them before and following the attack.

Dangerous men planned 'terrorist atrocity'

Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command (SO15), said: "Today’s convictions are the result of an intensive joint investigation by my command, the security services and the Met’s Trident and Area Crime Command.

"Our priority as always was ensuring the public’s safety by preventing these four very dangerous men, two of whom intended to carry out a terrorist atrocity in London.

"They were planning to target police or military personnel before escaping on a moped, but members of the public also could have been victims had their plans not been thwarted.

"During this investigation, my officers worked closely with colleagues from Trident resulting in five guns, all with ammunition, being taken out of circulation.

"Subsequently, they worked hard with the Crown Prosecution Service to gather and present the best possible evidence for court, ensuring these men were taken off the streets and could no longer pose a risk to public safety."

A date for sentencing is yet to be set.