A former GCHQ intern has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail after copying high secret information information onto his cell phone and taking them to his dwelling laptop, creating what prosecutors described as a big danger to nationwide safety.
Hasaan Arshad, 25, a pc science pupil from Rochdale, Larger Manchester, pleaded responsible on the Outdated Bailey on 31 March 2025 to 1 offense of performing an unauthorized act on a pc system that created severe harm to nationwide safety.
The sentencing was handed down in the present day on the similar courtroom following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service’s Counter-Terrorism Command.
Former GCHQ Intern Jailed
Arshad had beforehand accomplished a placement at GCHQ in 2019 earlier than starting one other Business 12 months placement that ran from 6 September 2021 to 26 August 2022. Throughout this second placement, he labored as a part of a technical improvement crew dealing with extremely delicate issues saved on a top-secret community.
The breach occurred on 24 August 2022, when Arshad introduced his private work cell phone into the office and linked it to his improvement workstation.
He then intentionally copied top-secret information information onto the gadget and eliminated it from the safe facility, later transferring the labeled materials to a pc system at his dwelling handle.
Police executed a search warrant at Arshad’s Rochdale dwelling on 22 September 2022, the place they found the top-secret information saved on an exterior onerous drive linked to his desktop laptop.
The investigation revealed that Arshad’s actions have been a transparent violation of the Official Secrets and techniques Act, which he had signed, and the safety protocols outlined in his induction coaching.
Unrelated to his GCHQ actions, investigators additionally found indecent pictures of kids on Arshad’s private cell phone in the course of the search.
Police discovered 40 class A pictures and 4 class B pictures that had been created between 7 and 23 September 2022. Arshad pleaded responsible to 2 counts of constructing indecent pictures of kids in January 2023.
The whole sentence includes six years for the pc misuse offense, with an extra 18 months for the class A indecent pictures cost served consecutively, and 18 months for the class B offense served concurrently.
Bethan David, Head of the CPS Counter Terrorism Division, emphasised the severity of Arshad’s actions: “His conduct was deliberate and intentional, and represented a flagrant breach of the plain and needed guidelines in place. By transferring the top-secret materials to his dwelling laptop and due to this fact exposing it to the dangers of an unsecure system, Arshad created a big danger of injury to nationwide safety.”
David added that the Crown Prosecution Service would proceed pursuing anybody who “knowingly jeopardizes and endangers the protection of our nation.”
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