“Jihadi John,” the Islamic State group terrorist involved in the execution of multiple Western prisoners, still has access to his British bank account.
The U.K. government’s independent investigator found that only six British jihadists have had their bank accounts frozen out of an estimated 600 fighting with the Islamic State group, The Telegraph reported Saturday.
“The figures for assets frozen are remarkably low,” said David Anderson, a high ranking Queen’s Counsel official and the U.K. government’s independent investigator for terrorism legislation.
Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed ’Jihadi John,’ is a former British citizen serving as the terrorist group’s executioner, appearing in videos that have depicted the violent beheadings of American and Japanese citizens.
But the terrorist wasn’t among the list of bank accounts that’s been frozen by British officials.
“The small number of [terrorist] designations indicates that asset-freezing law has played only a marginal role in combating the most serious terrorist threat of the present time,” Mr. Anderson wrote in his report, adding there needs to be “greater use” of asset freezing laws, The Telegraph reported.
All told, the U.K. government has only frozen about $74,000, the investigator estimated.
“This is just another example of the Government failing to deliver on a promise it has made about protecting national security,” Professor Anthony Glees, director of the University of Buckingham’s Center for Security and Intelligence Studies, told the newspaper.
Mr. Glees added that it was “incomprehensible” that the terrorists still had access to British bank accounts.
Perhaps most troubling of all is that the U.K. government estimates 300 of the British fighters who fought with Islamic State have now returned to the country — and none of them have had their bank accounts frozen.
• Phillip Swarts can be reached at pswarts@washingtontimes.com.
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