ISIS bleeding UK benefits system to fund their evil plans

ISIS pose a massive threat in the Middle East and they gain funding from the UK.

ISIS terrorists are abusing the taxpayer-funded benefits system to fuel their murderous jihad, authorities fear.

Hundreds of Brits and as many as 70 people from Scotland are believed to have travelled abroad to fight with evil ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

And The Sunday Post can reveal a high-level probe has now been launched to establish the extent of such dodgy benefit claims.

Experts fear our welfare system has been abused in a number of high-level frauds by jihadists.

People are not entitled to claim state hand-outs such as Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment Support Allowance if they live overseas.

But the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Fraud and Error Service has launched a series of reviews after people living in Iraq and Syria managed to successfully access UK benefits.

The claims are all alleged to have been made in the last three years and run to an unknown sum.

It’s the first time the Whitehall department has admitted British taxpayer money has been fraudulently claimed by people living in the area.

Detective Chief Superintendent Terri Nicholson, the assistant commander at the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command unit, is certain ISIS is abusing the UK’s lucrative benefit system to help finance terror.

“We are seeing a diverse fraud, including substantial fraud online, abuse of the benefits system, abuse of student loans, in order to fund terrorism,” she has said.

Nicholson added that women were being used to smuggle welfare money out of Britain to fund terrorists abroad, because they supposedly arouse less suspicion.

The extent of the benefit fraud has not been revealed by the DWP who claim it could deter their investigation.

The Sunday Post has been involved in a battle since March to access all the information the government holds on the issue.

In a freedom of information response, the government said: “We can confirm that investigations have been carried out into claimants/customers fraudulently claiming benefits whilst allegedly living in Syria or Iraq.”

Last night, Professor Anthony Glees, one of the UK’s most respected intelligence analysts, branded the revelation “outrageous”.

Professor Glees, who is head of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, said: “The fact that taxes gained via hard-working families in Scotland and across the UK is going to these sadistic killers is nauseating.”

Other European countries have been forced to admit they’ve been stung in similar frauds.

In Denmark, it’s been revealed more than two dozen jihadists received employment benefits from the Danish government while fighting for Islamic State in Syria, totalling close to £500,000.

Meanwhile, in Austria, police arrested 13 jihadists in November who were allegedly collecting welfare payments to pay for their trip to Syria.

A number of Scots, including Glasgow uni drop-out Aqsa Mahmood, 20, and Aberdonian Abdul Raqib Amin who is believed to have been killed have fled the country to join ISIS.

Top terror cop, Detective Chief Superintendent John Cuddihy, of Police Scotland, claims as many as 70 Scots could be fighting for ISIS in the war-torn Middle East.

A spokeswoman for the DWP said: “As soon as law enforcement agencies tell us someone has left the country for any reason we will investigate and stop their benefits.

“Furthermore, people who commit, plan and support acts of terror abroad and seek to return to the UK will be prosecuted.”

My View By John Cuddihy, Detective Chief Superintendent of Police Scotland

Scotland is like the rest of the UK.

We are not immune from people going from here to the theatres of conflict in Iraq and Syria.

We know there are a variety of reasons for this.

Not all are to fight.

Some have gone for humanitarian reasons.

Others have travelled there because they have family in the area.

But of course there are those who travel there for what I’d describe as criminal activity.

There has been a number of high-profile Scots who are believed to have gone to be part of the so-called Islamic State.

There was Abdul Rakib Amin from Aberdeen and Aqsa Mahmood from Glasgow.

There has also been Alan Duncan from Aberdeen who was reported as having gone to fight against ISIS.

I can’t quantify how many Scots are now out there. What I would say is it is proportional to the British figure. Some academics have put the number of Brits there at 700.

Stopping Scots going out is vitally important.

We monitor and analyse the routes to Syria and Iraq and profile the passengers making that journey to stop them before they go.