A man
claiming to be a British banker says he has quit working in the City in
order to join Islamic extremists fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Using
the nom de guerre Abu A'ntaar, the man is said to have told Russian
media that he hated 'being ruled by laws other than Allah's' and was
sick of the 'self-indulgence' of rich people in London.
The
man, who says he is a former business analyst, reportedly stated that
he 'hates democracy' and is happy to be living under sharia law in the
Middle East, claiming brutal ISIS militants are 'leading the way' and
showing the world how a religious life should be lived.
ISIS,
which rebranded as Islamic State after declaring the foundation of a
caliphate in the vast swaths of the Middle East under its control, was
this week revealed to be the wealthiest terror group in history - raking
in £3 million a day through oil smuggling, extortion, theft and human
trafficking.
Militant: Using the nom de guerre Abu
A'ntaar, the man said he has quit a lucrative finance job in the City of
London in order to join Islamic extremists fighting for ISIS in Syria
and Iraq (pictured)
The
alleged former banker turned ISIS militant, whose real name is not
known, is said to have revealed aspects of his past life in conversation
with Moscow-based news agency Russia Today.
The
state-owned broadcaster claims to have been exchanging encrypted
instant messages with Abu A'ntaar for the past month, but had a request
for a video or audio interview rejected after the militant reportedly
said ISIS' slick media department has banned him from taking part.
Although
he was keen for his true identity not to be revealed, the man
reportedly said he had turned his back on a lucrative career in finance
to fight in Syria and Iraq because it is 'the only place where the
shari'a of Allah is applied fully.'
'I
hate democracy and the self- indulgence of the rich….I hate
inequality…I hate the corporations who are trying to destroy this world
because of tyranny,' he was quoted as adding.
Jihadists: Abu A'ntaar says he is
happy to be living under sharia law in the Middle East, claiming brutal
ISIS militants (pictured) are 'leading the way' and showing the world
how a religious life should be lived
Barbaric: ISIS rebranded as the Islamic State after declaring the foundation of a caliphate earlier this year
Abu
A'ntaar is also said to have raged about a culture of peaceful protests
in the West, saying: 'I hate that Palestine was never freed for 70+
years whilst we 'peacefully' held placards on the street.'
Although
he refused to reveal his exact role within the militant group, Russia
Today said the man suggested he had been trained as a suicide bomber
able to 'destroy' enemies 'at will'.
The
alleged former banker is thought to be among up to 1,000 Britons
fighting for ISIS in the Middle East - among them the murderer 'Jihadi
John', who is responsible for the sickening filmed beheadings of U.S.
journalists James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, and of British aid worker
David Haines.
The
three sickening execution videos all show 'Jihadi John' who speaks with
a clear London or southern English accent issuing threats to Western
leaders before killing the men with a small knife.
Sickening:
The alleged former banker is thought to be among up to 1,000 Britons
fighting for ISIS in the Middle East - among them the murderer 'Jihadi
John' (right), who is responsible for the filmed beheadings of U.S.
journalists James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, and of British aid worker
David Haines (left)
A number of young British Muslims,
including Reyaad Khan (left) and Nasser Muthanna (centre) from Cardiff,
and Abdul Raqib Amin from Aberdeen (right) have appeared in slick
propaganda videos released by ISIS
Numerous
other British jihadists have appeared in ISIS propaganda and
recruitment videos, with dozens more using social media sites such as
Twitter and Ask.Fm to convince other Muslims living in Western nations
to travel to the Middle East to fight alongside the Sunni militants.
The
majority of these Britons have joined the militant group after
travelling on commercial airlines to popular tourist airport Antayla in
southern Turkey, and crossing over the porous border into Syria.
Such
is the extent of the territory under ISIS control in the Middle East,
that the border between Syria and Iraq has effectively been removed -
allowing the militants relatively free movement across an area the size
of Britain, and brutally oppressing a population of four million.
News
of Abu A'ntaar had joined ISIS comes as at least nine imams were
revealed to be among 15 people arrested in Kosovo today in the second
major operation in weeks to try to stem the flow of young ethnic
Albanians joining Islamist fighters in Iraq and Syria.
A
police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the 15 faced
charges including 'terrorism, threatening the constitutional order,
incitement and religious hate speech'.
Scale: ISIS, which is led by Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi (pictured), was this week revealed to be the wealthiest
terror group in history - raking in £3 million a day through oil
smuggling, extortion, theft and human trafficking
Spread: Nine imams were among 15
people arrested by masked police (pictured) in Kosovo today. The arrests
were allegedly to stop the flow of young Muslims leaving the country to
join ISIS
Armed: A Kosovan police officer stands
guard outside the apartment of Fuad Ramiqi - the vice-president of the
radical Islamic political party LISBA - during a police raid this
morning
In
the last such operation on August 11, 40 people were arrested on
suspicion of fighting in Iraq and Syria or recruiting insurgents.
Police
said that among the imams arrested was an influential Muslim cleric
from the Grand Mosque in the capital Pristina. Another was the the
leader of an Islamic-rooted political party.
'The
majority of those arrested are imams of different mosques belonging to
the Islamic Community of Kosovo,' police spokesperson Baki Kelani said.
Most of Kosovo's 1.8 million people are ethnic Albanian Muslims and lead largely secular lives.
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