London Bridge terror ringleader bankrolled by jobless benefits
Khuram Butt followed mentor Anjem Choudary’s advice to claim ‘Jihad Seeker’s Allowance’
Robert Mendick, Ben Farmer,
Hayley Dixon
THE London Bridge ringleader heeded the call from a jailed Islamist cleric to use Britain’s benefits system to fund the terror attack.
Khuram Butt was claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance as well as other benefits in the run up to Saturday’s attack, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. In effect, the taxpayer was bankrolling Butt as he plotted the massacre at London Bridge and Borough Market in which eight people were murdered.
Butt’s mentor – the preacher Anjem Choudary – had repeatedly exhorted his followers to exploit the welfare system. Choudary, who was jailed in September for five and a half years for terrorism offences, even coined the phrase “Jihad Seeker’s Allowance”.
Butt is understood to have been looking for work since being fired from London Underground last October, entitling him to Jobseeker’s Allowance of about £300 a month. Butt, according to reports, had been sacked for poor timekeeping. He also received Jobseeker’s Allowance for over a year after leaving a job at KFC and before taking up the post with London Underground.
Furthermore, Butt was being paid housing benefit for his council-owned flat in Barking as well as child benefit. In total, benefits are capped in London at £23,000 a year.
Relatives of Butt revealed his family had been so concerned about his desire to fight in Syria that they had taken his passport away. Fahad Khan, the cousin of Butt’s widow Zahrah Rehman, said Butt would talk about Isil and his aspiration to fight in Syria. Mr Khan, 36, said Butt had, on one occasion, introduced him to another of the attackers, Rachid Redouane, at the Ummah Fitness Centre in Ilford, east London.
The gym was searched by police yesterday morning. Counter-terrorism officers took away computers and files.
The three terrorists were caught on CCTV joking and laughing outside the fitness centre five days before the London Bridge attack. The footage shows Redouane placing his mobile phone on a rubble sack before the three men walk away for roughly 10 minutes. When they return, Redouane picks up his phone and grins as the third attacker, Youssef, Zaghba hugs Butt, who then goes back into the gym. The decision to leave the phone indicates the trio were plotting attacks and were making sure they could not be over-
‘While Mr Butt did occasionally train here, we did not see anything of concern’
heard if the phone was bugged. The gym said in a statement: “While Mr Butt did occasionally train here, we do not know him well, nor did we see anything of concern. We will of course help the police in any way we can.”
Meanwhile it was disclosed that the Italian national Zaghba, helped at a children’s gymnastics club. The 22-year-old is pictured on the website of Catleaps Gymnastics Club in Dagenham, east London, sitting cross-legged with a group of children. The club said a background check was not needed for his post as a volunteer helper, but that he was supervised at all times.
♦the police officers who shot dead the London Bridge terror attackers have been temporarily suspended. Scotland Yard confirmed eight officers who opened fire had been suspended as is routine in all police shootings.