British pharmacist held over possible links with Isil

A BRITISH pharmacist arrested in Syria on suspicion of being a member of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) was being questioned by Western intelligence agencies last night.

The man, who said his name was Anwar Miah, was apprehended by Kurdish forces last month close to the Iraq border.

Footage that emerged on social media appeared to show him being questioned by his captors and claiming to be a pharmacist from Birmingham. In the clip, the blindfolded man, who spoke with a British accent, said he was from the West Midlands, but had been in Syria for four years working in a medical capacity.

Asked if he was a member of Isil, he replied: “I’m a doctor. I’m a qualified pharmacist from the UK. I studied medicine and pharmacy.”

When asked to explain why he was in the area, he replied: “I came here to work with the people, and to work in their general hospitals. I’ve been working in the hospitals since I came.”

Asked again if he was with Isil or Daesh, he said: “The areas that I worked in were controlled by Daesh, but I work with the general people. I work in the general hospitals.

“They were controlled by Daesh. I can’t do anything about that. All my work was with the public.”

A pharmacist from Birmingham with the same name was struck off in 2014 for carelessly dispensing methadone and falsifying records, but it was not clear if it was the same person.

His detention illustrates the extent of the problem for the British authorities in knowing where fighters who travelled to Syria to join Isil are now.

An estimated 850 people from the UK have travelled to Syria to support or fight for jihadist groups.

Shiraz Maher, director of King’s College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, said it was hard to know how many foreigners remained in the region.

He said: “One of the big questions and dilemmas for security agencies, after Islamic State lost Raqqa and Mosul, is: who died, who survived, how many got away and where are they now?”

Earlier this year, two Britons suspected of being members of the Isil execution group dubbed “The Beatles” were captured in Syria.

Alexanda Kotey and Shafee Elsheikh were detained by members of the Kurdish military and could now face extradition to the US to face trials for terror offences.

Along with Mohammed Emwazi – who had the nickname Jihadi John – and Aine Davis, the four Londoners were linked to a string of hostage murders in Iraq and Syria during the bloody Islamist uprising.