France let Isil jihadists claim £450,000 in benefits

MORE than 100 French jihadists regularly received welfare payments after joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) forces in Syria and Iraq, police have disclosed.

The payments came to light after an investigation into Isil funding in France and elsewhere in Europe in 2015.

Their discovery highlighted intelligence failings and social security neglecting to carry out proper checks.

The Criminal Brigade in Paris and other European security services unearthed fraudulent payments from Europe of around €2million (£1.8million) to jihadists between 2012 and 2016. Some €500,000 came from France.

The other European countries involved were not named. Most European Isil fighters come from France, followed by Germany and Britain.

Detectives said about a fifth of the roughly 700 French nationals they estimated left the country to join the extremists had continued to claim unemployment or housing benefits, income support or family allowances.

An investigator told Le Figaro newspaper: “Relatives used identity papers with photos to claim money from social security offices or family allowances on their behalf and then transferred the funds to them in the combat zones, mainly via Turkey.”

The money was passed through a network of 210 Turkish and Lebanese intermediaries, and 190 from France.

The flow of money was cut off last year after police passed on the names of claimants who had left the country to social security offices.