Son of a Labour councillor who was suspected of being an extremist after being arrested on the Syrian border is back in Britain and walking the streets of Rochdale
- Suspected extremist Waheed Ahmed, 21, is walking the streets of Britain
- Ahmed arrested on Syrian border amid fears he was joining Islamic State
- He is one of number of suspected extremists released without charge in UK
- Around 700 Britons said to have travelled to join IS including teenage girls
A suspected extremist is walking Britain’s streets despite being arrested on the Syrian border.
Waheed
Ahmed, 21, and eight relatives, including a one-year-old, were picked
up by Turkish police who feared they planned to join the Islamic State terror group.
They
were all deported and Ahmed, a student whose father is a Labour
councillor, is now a regular sight in Rochdale. He is one of a number of
suspected extremists released without charge in Britain after being
stopped at the Syrian border.
Waheed Ahmed (pictured) and eight
relatives, including a one-year-old, were picked up by Turkish police
who feared they planned to join the Islamic State terror group. He is
now walking the streets of Rochdale in the UK
Ahmad
Mohammadi and Shahid Miah, both 24, have been allowed continue at
university after allegedly travelling to the war-torn state to join IS.
It is thought they wanted to be with Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan and Nasser
Muthana who appeared in an IS recruitment video.
Khan,
21, died in a UK drone strike on Syria in August – one of an estimated
45 Britons thought to have been killed in Syria and Iraq.
Around 700 Britons have thought to have travelled to join IS including teenage girls.
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Around
450 have returned home. Police say the returnees pose a significant
threat yet only a handful have been prosecuted. Instead they are being
referred to the Government’s Prevent strategy which aims to deradicalise
extremists and change their thinking.
Campaigners say the courts should instead hand out mandatory jail sentences.
Eddie
Reid, 67, a campaigner for Help for Heroes, said: ‘Everyone is shocked
that Ahmed and his relatives went off to join IS and on their return
they are able to waltz around as if nothing had happened.
‘They
wanted to join a terrorist organisation whose sole aim is to wipe out
the West and yet he is able to return and resume his university
studies.’
A
Rochdale neighbour, 73, said: ‘It is a disgrace. His father is a
councillor and represents the people of Rochdale yet he has a son who’d
clearly like us all dead. It is outrageous that he should be allowed to
walk the streets, grinning from ear to ear, as if it was some great
adventure or a lark.’
His father Shakil, who has been
pictured with former Labour leader Ed Miliband, said he did not know his
son was in Turkey and thought he was working in Birmingham
Waheed (pictured) was detained in Turkey alongside his aunt, two cousins and one of his cousin's wives
Another
resident said: ‘The law protects people like Ahmed but how can we ever
be safe if people like him go unpunished? It’s ridiculous – at the very
least he should be made to attend the Government’s deradicalisation
programme.’
Anti-terror
police believed Ahmed had been radicalised and they arrested and
questioned him when he returned to the UK from Turkey. But the politics
student was released without charge.
His
father Shakil, who has been pictured with former Labour leader Ed
Miliband, said he did not know his son was in Turkey and thought he was
working in Birmingham.
Mr
Ahmed, who sits on Rochdale Borough Council, said: ‘My son is a good
Muslim and his loyalties belong to Britain. If I thought for a second
that he was in danger of being radicalised, I would have reported him to
the authorities.’
Asked
by The Sun on Sunday about his alleged bid to enter an IS-controlled
area of Syria, Ahmed replied: ‘I only went to Turkey. I’m just going to
the mosque. I go five times a day to pray.’
Earlier
this month, Ednane Mahmood, a 19-year-old student, was convicted of
terrorism offences after he travelled to the Syrian border aiming to
cross and fight for IS.
The
youngest known IS recruits are twins Zahra and Salma Halane, 16, who
fled their home in Chorlton, Manchester, in July 2014 to marry jihadi
fighters in Syria.
Their husbands have been killed in combat or in drone strikes.
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