‘Morality squad’ enforcer even stitched bombers into suicide vests

Shamima Begum was a gun-toting ‘enforcer’ who stitched suicide bombers into explosive vests in Syria, it was claimed yesterday.

The Prime minister and home Secretary have been briefed by the intelligence services about claims the islamic State bride was seen preparing suicide vests for jihadis.

Separately, activists also claimed yesterday that the former Bethnal Green schoolgirl carried a Kalashnikov rifle and served in islamic State’s ‘morality police’ as an ‘enforcer’ of strict laws. She had tried to recruit other women to join the terror group, they claimed.

Details of her alleged role in the conflict emerged from information gleaned by allied spy agencies – believed to be the Cia and Dutch military intelligence – from interrogation of Western IS converts.

if the allegations prove to be true, it would shatter the illusion that Begum is a blameless wife and mother who did not participate in the terror group’s brutality.

Begum’s account of her years with the group, which she joined aged 15, is that she was a devoted housewife focused on raising her children, who have died of malnutrition. her husband Yago Riedijk, a Dutch fighter, said that Begum just ‘sat in the house’ and that she would pose no danger if allowed back to the UK.

But yesterday an altogether different picture was painted for Theresa may and Sajid Javid.

a senior intelligence source told the mail on Sunday: ‘She was involved and her former comrades have grassed her. She was literally stitching the vests, stitching them into the vests.’

The intelligence was shared at the highest levels of Government following the row over mr Javid’s decision to block Begum’s return.

however there are concerns the intelligence may not meet the legal threshold if she were to be put on trial in Britain because of the way it was obtained.

an ANTI-IS activist group Sound and Picture yesterday claimed Begum was paid between £500 and £1,500 a month to serve in IS’s ‘morality police’, enforcing laws such as women’s dress codes.

it was said Begum likely ordered the imprisonment and lashing of women in Raqqa in her role in the squad, which had British jihadi bride Sally Jones in its ranks. The revelations could complicate her battle to return to the UK.

at the Special immigration appeals Commission (SIAC), which will decide on her case, judges can sit in secret and hear details of intelligence from security agencies such as mi5 or mi6.

according to Sound and Picture, whose members lived under the terror group’s rule, Begum received ‘military and religious training’ and worked for several months in al-hisba, a religious enforcement unit.

Founder aghiad al-Kheder told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘There were lots of European women in the hisba. Some of them were very harsh and the local population became very scared.’

Yesterday Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign affairs Select Committee, said: ‘if true, these allegations suggest... a good reason to suspect she would be a danger to the UK.’

miss Begum’s father ahmed ali said: ‘if she has done anything wrong, she should be brought to England and punished.’