Soldiers quizzed over ‘racist’ SAS WhatsApp group
a WHITe supremacist group is operating at the headquarters of the Special air Service, the Daily Mail can reveal today.
Detectives have questioned the Special Forces soldiers who shared ‘racist’ imagery on Whatsapp.
The group uses the name ‘NSO’, which is commonly deployed as an acronym for National Socialist Order, a neo-Nazi group in the United States.
The Mail has obtained screengrabs from conversations between NSO members, including one with a bizarre mockedup picture of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding. It has the head of a black man superimposed on that of the archbishop of Canterbury.
although the meaning of the image is uncertain, white supremacists have described Harry as a ‘race traitor’ for marrying a woman with an afro-american mother.
Soldiers at the Hereford base also shared a video of a naked and elderly afroCaribbean woman. another image showed a black man’s forearm with the description ‘truck drivers’ suntan competition winner’. Members of the NSO, which has branches around the world, advocate violence against Muslims, Jews and homosexuals. The SaS group’s profile picture is also disturbing because it features a clenched white fist – a symbol frequently used to represent white defiance and to protest against diversity.
an investigation is being led by the royal Military Police’s investigative branch, the SIB.
according to SaS sources, the group has shared much more offensive material, leading to protests from afro-Caribbean and Polynesian troops.
One insider said: ‘The pictures and captions being shared in the group were moronic. It went on for years. You got a few out-andout racists in the group and blokes who laugh at this sort of thing and don’t think about it.
‘They don’t realise how offensive this sort of material is to black troops. They don’t want to go on operations with white soldiers who, behind their backs, are mocking black people or using white supremacist slogans and images.’
ethnic minority soldiers are significantly under-represented in the 250-strong SaS and other Special Forces units. The NSO Whatsapp group includes senior soldiers with frontline operational experience.
as part of the racism probe senior officers are seeking to identify all the group’s members.
The SIB inquiry could lead to soldiers being booted out. Prison sentences were handed down to Metropolitan Police officers who
‘Protest against diversity’
shared offensive material in a Whatsapp group. SaS soldiers – whose motto is Who Dares Wins – have been ordered to undertake diversity training in the wake of the discovery of the group.
a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘There is no place in the armed Forces for any form of racist view or behaviour. any activity which falls short of the high standards of the armed Forces is unacceptable. We are aware of offensive comments and images posted by service personnel in a Whatsapp group. These are being investigated by the army so it would be inappropriate to comment.’