Freed hostages had been in a position to give British police key data figuring out an IS kidnap gang nicknamed “The Beatles” which had held and tortured them, Scotland Yard has revealed.
Officers have disclosed key breakthroughs that allowed them to establish the jihadis and convey two of them to trial within the US.
It included very important particulars from freed hostages that helped police establish the lads on a march with a gaggle linked to the unconventional group al-Muhajiroun, in addition to the usage of voice recognition software program.
The group had been nicknamed “The Beatles” by their hostages due to their British accents.
Mohammed Emwazi, often known as Jihadi John, first featured in a video launched by IS in 2014, exhibiting a masked man with a British accent taking pictures a prisoner.
Police had been in a position to find tapes of police interviews with Emwazi in 2012 when he was questioned a couple of collection of bicycle thefts and evaluate that along with his voice within the execution.
An knowledgeable forensic voice analyst concluded there was a “very strong likelihood” the particular person within the video was Emwazi.
How officers constructed their case
Officers then began to slender down the pool of different potential members of the group, finally main them to establish Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, each from west London.
Commander Richard Smith, head of Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Command, mentioned police adopted a “trail of very small breadcrumbs” and constructing the case was “like putting together very small pieces of a jigsaw”.
One piece of data emerged from the hostages they spoke to, which was “fairly unremarkable” to the hostage, however proved very important to police.
It was the recollection of a dialog the place one of many captors talked about that he had been arrested at an English Defence League (EDL) march in London.
Based on that snippet of dialog, the investigation staff was in a position to return and establish a specific EDL march that passed off within the capital on 11 September 2011.
It was a counter-demonstration in opposition to a march by Muslims Against Crusades to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11, which started on the US embassy in Grosvenor Square.
There had been quite a lot of flashpoints round central London and round 6pm, police had been known as to the Tyburn pub in Marble Arch, the place a stabbing had taken place and quite a lot of males arrested on suspicion of involvement.
Records confirmed that two of these people had been Kotey and Elsheikh.
“Both of the men ultimately were released without charge for that offence, but the information was invaluable in helping us to zero in on them as being the men the hostages had described to us,” mentioned Commander Smith.
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Pictures of weapons and decapitated heads
The counter-terrorism command took the chance to assessment knowledge from Kotey and Elsheikh’s telephones, which had been seized on the time of the arrest, and so they confirmed numerous messages between them.
They additionally discovered Elsheikh’s quantity saved on Emwazi’s telephone, which had been downloaded when he was questioned over the bike thefts.
Another essential piece of proof linking Elsheikh on to terrorist exercise in Syria got here after officers took a contemporary take a look at proof in an unrelated case.
In 2014, Elsheikh’s brother Khalid was arrested by Operation Trident, the Metropolitan Police anti-gangs unit, and a handgun was discovered at his handle.
His cell phone was seized and located to comprise disturbing photos that led them to contact the counter-terrorism command, who undertook a fuller examination.
Police found quite a lot of Telegram messages between Elsheikh and his brother, exhibiting Elsheikh was in Syria.
One confirmed Elsheikh in fight clothes and holding a firearm. Another confirmed a graphic image of decapitated heads, with commentary from Elsheikh.
Following Kotey and Elsheikh’s detention in Syria, officers re-analysed the information utilizing digital interrogation software program, which had improved within the intervening years, and additional materials was found.
This included a voice message recognized from somebody they believed was Elsheikh, which was despatched to his brother.
Officers then situated a police interview tape with Elsheikh from 2009 and voice consultants had been in a position to evaluate the 2 recordings and conclude there was “very strong likelihood” that Elsheikh was the particular person within the voice observe.
Last yr, British police acquired authorisation from the lawyer common for 139 prices in opposition to Kotey and Elsheikh, for prices together with kidnap and homicide, however they had been already within the US.
The pair had been stripped of their British citizenship following their seize by the Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018 and despatched to the US for prosecution.
Elsheikh, 33, faces sentence on Friday. Kotey, 38, was jailed for all times in Virginia in April after admitting kidnap, conspiracy to homicide and offering materials assist for terrorism.
A person suspected of being the fourth member of the Beatles terror cell was charged with terrorism offences after being deported to England by Turkish authorities final week.
Aine Lesley Junior Davis, 38, additionally from west London, was arrested on 10 August after arriving at Luton airport on a flight from Turkey.
Source: information.sky.com”