Intelligence sources have revealed fears the Jihadi bride could escape from the prison camp, go underground, and attempt to organise terrorist attacks here in the UK
British and US special forces could be placed on standby to seize ISIS terrorist Shamima Begum from a Syrian prison camp, intelligence sources have revealed. Intelligence chiefs fear the Jihadi bride could escape from the prison camp, go underground, and attempt to organize terrorist attacks in the UK.
The disclosure led to calls from a former Security Minister for Begum to be brought back to the UK to stand trial. MI5 believes the 26-year-old still poses a terrorist threat to the UK even though she has been held captive since 2019.
Begum from East London is one of 60 suspected British ISIS members being held inside the sprawling al-Roj prison camp in northern Syria. The prison was previously guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force (SDF), but it is feared she could now be freed amid a violent struggle for control of Islamic State prisons.
One intelligence source told the Daily Star Sunday: “It’s absolute chaos in Syria. There has been concern for months that if the control of the prisons was lost, thousands of ISIS terrorists would be free to cause havoc.
“There is now doubt the terrorists would target the UK. There is still a view within MI5 that Begum does represent a threat because she could easily become a figurehead for Islamist terrorist groups.
“So she needs to be captured if terrorists start escaping from the prison. The best people to do that are UK and US special forces who are based in Syria.
“What happens to her if she is captured is anyone’s guess. There is a view in the Foreign Office that she should be brought back to the UK to stand trial for terrorist offences and jailed if convicted.”
It is understood that a team of elite special forces located in a US base in Syria could be placed on standby to capture Begum if the security situation deteriorates further. Begum, 26, was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving East London more than a decade ago.
She was 15 years old when she left Bethnal Green, London, in February 2015 with two close friends, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abas, to join ISIS in Syria. All three girls married ISIS fighters shortly after arriving in Raqqa, and it is believed that both of her friends died in Syria.
Lord West of Spithead, a former head of the Royal Navy and Labour Security Minister, said Begum should be brought back to the UK to stand trial for terrorist offences. He told the Daily Star Sunday, “She is a stupid woman who did some very stupid things, but I think we should bring her back to this country and she should be tried for those offences.
“She is actually a British citizen. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me on this. I say put her on trial, and if she’s not convicted, at least she can be monitored by the security services.
“So if we can go and get her, then we should.” But Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed to “robustly defend” the decision while sources stressed there would be “no red carpet” for the notorious terror bride. The Foreign Office has been approached for comment.
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