UK's MI5 Intelligent Agency Know who 'Jihadi John' is
-But are Waiting to Gather Even More Intelligence Before they Make a Move
- Jihadi John was known to MI5 before he went to Syria to join Islamic State
- His name and background are being kept a secret to protect hostages
- They have put off any move on UK network while hostages remain captive
- Drones are meanwhile being flown over Syria to locate his hideout
- US authorities will order strike as soon as his location is confirmed
AP, 16 September 2014
Jihadi John was known to MI5 before he travelled to Syria to join the barbaric Islamic State.
Security officials have now identified the Briton who played a key role in the murder videos of UK aid worker David Haines and two American journalists.
But his name and background are being kept secret to avoid jeopardising any hostage rescue missions.
Intelligence agencies are said to have identified 'Jihadi John' but have postponed raids on his associates over fears such actions could hamper any attempt to rescue his hostages
It is believed the hostages are being held in tunnels beneath Raqqa (pictured, above), which has become an IS stronghold
Police and security agents also want to gather more information before raiding the homes of the fanatic’s family and friends.
They believe covert operations are the best way to find out where in Syria the militant is based.
Crucially, he is believed to be close to where the IS group is holding some of its international hostages, including 47-year-old taxi driver Alan Henning, from Manchester.
John threatened the father-of-two with beheading at the end of the video in which Mr Haines, 44, was seen before and after his murder
Despite the huge numbers that have watched the gruesome propaganda videos, John has yet to be named publicly.
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary – a London rapper initially identified as a suspect – has been ruled out after analysis of his voice as well as his height and mannerisms.
The 23-year-old, whose father is awaiting trial in the US on terror charges linked to embassy bombings in East Africa, came to prominence earlier this year after he posted a photograph of himself on Twitter holding up a severed head.
‘Chillin’ with my homie or what’s left of him,’ he wrote on his Twitter account, which has since been deactivated.
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Other Britons from Portsmouth, Birmingham and Cardiff have been linked to John, who is said to have overseen the torture of hostages and to have led negotiations for French and Italian captives freed in return for ransoms.
It is claimed he was making street collections for genuine Arab charities based in London at the time he came to MI5’s attention.
Anti-terror investigators looking at the support networks of fighters in Syria have often focused on charities. Officials have repeatedly stressed that having somebody on their radar is not the same as placing them under surveillance.
In the case of Jihadi John, he is understood to have become radicalised almost overnight and left Britain more than a year ago, where he quickly became a hardened fighter.
There is no suggestion that MI5 or the police had any basis to stop him from travelling abroad.
British and US signals specialists in Baghdad and the Kurdish city of Irbil have been working with UK's GCHQ to pinpoint where he is now. Aircraft fitted with sophisticated equipment, which can eavesdrop on conversations taking place tens of thousands of feet below, are listening to see if they can pick up a voice match.
All three murder videos have been broken down piece by piece and studied to provide clues on where they were filmed.
Security experts believe the black-robed killer ranting on the video is British, rather than that a British voice has been dubbed over the footage.
The jihadist wears a black mask, concealing all but his eyes, making it difficult to be sure the voice belonged to him. But audio experts say they are ‘99 per cent’ certain the words were spoken by the man seen on camera.
Linguistic experts believe the way he pronounced certain words, such as Iraqi place names, suggest he has a foreign language background – indicating his parents or grandparents may have come from the Middle East.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called a emergency Cobra meeting soon after the latest video emerged so defence and security chiefs could plan their response
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He appears to have a skin tone consistent with someone of African, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent.
It is not believed that John or the hostages are far from the northern Syrian city of Raqqa where IS has established its headquarters.
The city has a warren of underground tunnels where hostages are believed to have been held.
Spy planes revealed that US hostage James Foley was executed near the Ittihad University in the city.
Jihadi John is among some 500 Britons who have travelled to Syria – and now Iraq – with around 250 returning, 200 of them to the London area.
In a speech to the JFK School of Government at Harvard University last night, Theresa May said the Government was seeking new powers to remove the passports from extremists.
She described the murder of David Haines as ‘an absolutely barbaric act’, adding:
‘Our message has to be clear. The United Kingdom, like the United States, will not allow these grotesque acts to stop us from keeping our homelands secure and stopping the march of this brutal ideology.’