First Response

LAMBETH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND CENTRE (12.15 p.m.)

‘I’ve got the details of the six ISIS guys in Belmarsh,’ said Sergeant Lumley. Kamran pushed himself out of his chair and walked around to the sergeant’s station. Lynne Waterman joined him. There were six photographs on Lumley’s left-hand screen, each made of three images — left side, right side and straight ahead. They were all Asian, dark-skinned, with straggly beards and contemptuous eyes. There were differences between them but they were clearly all cut from the same cloth. ‘What’s the story?’ asked Kamran.

‘They’ve all returned from Syria in the past two months,’ said the sergeant. ‘The top three are all members of the North London Boys. They signed up with ISIS, probably even before they left the country.’

Kamran nodded. The North London Boys was a network of Muslim fundamentalists, mainly of African and Arab heritage, who funnelled jihadists from London, first to Somalia and latterly to Syria. It was this network that had helped create Jihadi John, the ISIS figurehead who had appeared in numerous videos of savage beheadings.

‘The three at the top flew in together from Turkey and were arrested when they arrived at Heathrow,’ continued Lumley. ‘They’d been in Syria for five months and are known associates of Jihadi John.’

‘Known how?’ asked Kamran. ‘They’re always wearing ski masks.’

‘They were at school with him,’ said Lumley. ‘They went to the same mosque, and posted pictures on Facebook while they were in Syria. One of them posted a selfie he’d taken with Jihadi John. They were both wearing masks, but there’s no reason to doubt it was him. In another picture he was holding a human head.’

The young men who went out to fight for terrorist organisations like ISIS often behaved as if they were in some crazed video game, Kamran thought. He could barely comprehend how someone born and brought up in Britain could end up hacking off the head of a fellow human being and boasting about it.

‘The three at the bottom have been picked up separately over the past month. One came in through Northern Ireland, two on the Eurostar. Again they were on our watch list and were picked up as soon as they entered the country.’

‘All British Pakistanis?’ asked Kamran.

Lumley shook his head. ‘The three at the bottom are Bangladeshis. At least, their parents are. All three were born in Britain and are from the Portsmouth area. They were members of a group called the Britani Brigade Bangladeshi Bad Boys. Dozens of them went out to Syria via Turkey last year. Most are still out there, dead or still fighting. These three came back after a few months. It probably wasn’t as much fun as they thought it would be.’

‘And what’s the story charge-wise?’ asked Kamran.

‘They’ve all been charged under section five of the Terrorism Act 2006,’ said the sergeant, ‘and they’re all being held on remand. The CPS is working with the Ministry of Justice to see whether they can be charged with treason.’

Waterman nodded. ‘They’ll be able to throw away the key if they can do that,’ she said.

‘Best way forward,’ said Murray. ‘It’s crazy putting these radicalised kids in prison for a few years, then letting them out again. Prison just toughens them up and makes them even angrier. But put them away for twenty or thirty years and they might just calm down.’

‘In addition to these six, there are more than two dozen family members also facing charges, though not all of them are in Belmarsh,’ said Lumley.

‘What charges?’ asked Kamran.

‘Engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, arranging availability of money and property for use in terrorism, failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism.’

‘And what about connections between the three from north London and the three from Portsmouth?’

‘Nothing obvious,’ said Lumley. ‘Other than the fact that they all went to fight for ISIS in Syria.’

‘If there is a link between them, that might lead us to whoever is organising this,’ said Kamran.

‘It could just be that they’re members of ISIS,’ said Waterman. ‘That might be the only connection.’

‘But what about the family members?’ asked Kamran. ‘Why not ask for everyone to be released? Why just these six?’

‘Because the families are collateral damage, not jihadists,’ said Waterman. ‘But let me get our people looking for links.’

‘And we need to see if there are any connections between these six and the jihadists out there now.’

‘I’m on it,’ said Waterman, heading back to her workstation.