Jihadist on Galloway convoy an Isil ‘Beatle’
‘There were 500 people on that convoy and George can’t ever remember laying eyes on this guy’
A MUSLIM extremist from west London who travelled to the Middle East on an aid convoy organised by George Galloway was yesterday named as a member of Jihadi John’s gang of masked executioners.
Allexanda Kotey, a Queens Park Rangers fan who grew up just two miles away from Mohammed Emwazi, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) murderer, was confirmed by security services as one of four guards responsible for beheading up to 27 hostages.
Kotey, a Muslim convert, was a volunteer aboard the “Viva Palestine” convoy to Gaza organised by Mr Galloway in 2009.
Last night, security services said Kotey is believed to have been one of four jihadists – collectively known as the “Beatles” – along with Emwazi and a third man, Aine Davis, also from London. The fourth person is unknown. Hostages held by four Isil captors came up with the nicknames.
A spokesman for Mr Galloway, the former MP who will contest the London mayoralty for his Respect party, said: “There were 500 people on that convoy and George can’t ever remember laying eyes on this guy.
“It’s possible he was there but George doesn’t remember meeting him.”
Another volunteer on the 100-vehicle convoy was Munir Farooqi, who received four life sentences at Manchester Crown Court in 2011 after being found guilty of trying to recruit undercover police officers to fight in Afghanistan.
Farooqi, of Longsight, Manchester, is supported by the controversial group Cage, which was last year condemned for being an “apologist for terror” after Asim Qureshi, its research director, described Emwazi as “extremely gentle, kind” and a “beautiful young man”.
Kotey was said to have been a key recruiter for Isil, who helped radicalise young men in London before travelling to Syria, according to an investigation by BuzzFeed News and The Washington
Post.
Kotey, who is half Ghanaian, half Greek Cypriot, was born in 1983 and grew up in a family of dress cutters in Shepherd’s Bush. He is said to have converted to Islam in his early twenties after falling in love with a Muslim woman. He left two young children in Britain.
Kotey is also connected to the “London Boys” – a network of extremists who fomented radical Islam while playing five-a-side football in west London and who have been linked to the 7/7 London bombings and the subsequent failed 21/7 plot.
Jihadi John was killed by a US drone strike in November. The same month, it was reported that Davis had been detained by Turkish authorities.
The other “Beatles” – if still alive – remain among the world’s most wanted men and are being hunted by intelligence and security services on both sides of the Atlantic.
ITV News said it had established that Davis, Kotey and Emwazi became close friends in London before they travelled to Syria. It is not clear whether Kotey is
Allexanda Kotey’s father was a dress cutter and salesman from Ghana and his mother a British citizen of Greek Cypriot stock.
He was said to have been an avid supporter of Queens Park Rangers football club – and two garden gnomes painted in the team colours still sit outside the family’s address in Ladbroke Grove, west London.
Kotey attended AlManaar mosque, but after demanding that British foreign policy was addressed at the pulpit he was ejected in 2011 by elders who accused him of attempting a “takeover”.
He may be the “Beatle” known as “Ringo” by some of the hostages to have escaped Islamic State’s grasp.
“Ringo” once stated in a web posting that he was “as British as they come” and that he was “born and raised in Shepherd’s Bush, was a big QPR fan, love a good old fry up in the mornings.
However, confusion surrounds some of the hostages’ accounts, and the nicknames may have been transposed.
Kotey, who has two children, took part in George Galloway’s Viva Palestine aid convoy in 2009, which consisted of 10 vehicles.
It is unclear whether he returned to this country following the convoy or made his way to Syria after their mission was complete.
It is also unclear whether he is still alive. Unconfirmed reports claimed he was killed in a summer offensive against Isil forces.