How authorities tracked down the man dubbed ‘Jihadi John’
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INVESTIGATORS believe that “Jihadi John,” the masked fighter who fronted Islamic State beheading videos, is a British man named Mohammed Emwazi, two US government sources said yesterday.
He was born in Kuwait and comes from a prosperous family in London, where he grew up and graduated with a computer programming degree, according to the Washington Post.
In videos released by Islamic State, the black-clad militant brandishing a knife and speaking with an English accent appears to have decapitated hostages that included Americans, Britons and Syrians.
The Washington Post said Emwazi, who used the videos to threaten the West and taunt leaders such as US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, was believed to have traveled to Syria around 2012 and to have later joined IS.
In each beheading video, he is dressed entirely in black, a balaclava covering all but his eyes and the ridge of his nose. He wears a holster under his left arm.
Hostages gave him the name John as he and other IS Britons had been nicknamed after the Beatles. Another was dubbed George.
British government sources and the police refused to confirm or deny the report, citing a live anti-terrorism investigation, a position mirrored by a spokeswoman for Cameron.
“We don’t confirm or deny matters relating to intelligence,” she said.
“I am not going to get into the details of an ongoing police and security investigation,” she added.
“We have said since we have seen the awful actions being taken by these terrorists that we are absolutely determined to bring the perpetrators to justice, and the police and the security agencies have been working hard to do that, continue to work hard to do that and that is what we want to see,” she said.
Since a video surfaced in August last year showing a masked man raging against the United States before apparently beheading US citizen James Foley off camera, “Jihadi John” has been one of the world’s most hunted men.
Intelligence services in Britain and the United States were ordered to track down the masked man who became a menacing symbol of IS brutality.
Authorities used a variety of investigative techniques including voice and facial recognition as well as interviews with former hostages. The services had chosen not to disclose his name for operational reasons.
There was no answer at addresses in London where Emwazi was listed as living.
The Post quoted one of his close friends as saying: “I have no doubt that Mohammed is Jihadi John.” He added: “He was like a brother to me ... I am sure it is him.”
The Post quoted the friends of Emwazi, who were speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying they thought he had started to become radicalized after a planned safari in Tanzania following his graduation from the University of Westminster in London.
They said Emwazi and two friends — a German convert to Islam named Omar and another man, Abu Talib — never made it to the safari.
On landing in Dar es Salaam, in May 2009, they were detained by police and held overnight before eventually being deported, they added.
In a statement, the University of Westminster said that a Mohammed Emwazi had left the college six years ago.
“If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news,” a spokesman said.
The Post said that Emwazi claimed that representatives from Britain’s MI5 security service had tried to recruit him. He later tried to move to Kuwait but was detained by counter terrorism officials in Britain in 2010.
Emwazi was prevented from travelling but eventually found a way to Syria in 2012, it added.
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