Shamima Begum plotting to use 'people smugglers' to force return to UK, new messages reveal
Begum fled the UK as a 15-year-old to join ISIS and has been kept in Syria since 2019
Shamima Begum is plotting to use people smugglers to help her get back to Britain, messages from inside her camp have claimed.
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The 26-year-old has been held at the al-Roj detention facility in Syria since 2019 after she initially fled the UK to join Islamic State when she was 15.
She was married to an IS fighter and was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019 on the grounds of posing a threat to national security.
All her legal bids in the UK to overturn that decision have since failed.
Begum, originally from east London, is now said to be plotting to use contacts to smuggle her out alongside an American former jihadi, the Express reports.
Read more: ISIS brides flee Syrian prison camp amid fears Shamima Begum could return to UK
Journalist Andrew Dury, who has who has interviewed Begum six times at al-Roj, claims he received messages in recent weeks outlining an alleged escape plan.
Mr Drury is said to have received a series of texts from Hoda Muthana, Shamima's friend in the camp who also had her citizenship stripped for joining ISIS.
Appearing to act as Shamima's fixer, Hoda has asked for thousands of US dollars using the code word "gummies," and also British pounds, which she referred to as "mints", to help pay people smugglers to free both women from the camp.
Hoda also allegedly outlined a plan for the ex-ISIS brides to cross the border into Turkey to "get to our embassies," believing this would force the UK Government to act.
In one message, Hoda writes: "Bring five thousand gummy bears with u, the American brand, is better."
In another, she adds: "S (Shamima) also likes mints, about the same amount, but better u come and give it so half the bag isn’t taken."
Hoda claimed the UK would "eventually let" Begum back in once "Turkey deports her."
Speaking about the messages, Mr Drury told the publication: "I'm not going to give a terrorist, or somebody I consider as a terrorist, money.
"I understand her wanting to get out of the camp in desperation, but she and Hoda seem to be trying to manipulate people financially to help them, who knows who they are paying money to."
He added: "What's worrying as well is they appear to be saying they are negotiating media interviews for when and if they manage to get to Turkey and they claim they will be repatriated if they reach their embassies."
He also raised concerns about Begum attempting to reach Britain via small boat across the Channel.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said: "Keir Starmer and the British Government must confirm that Shamima Begum will not be allowed to return under any circumstances, and ensure any attempts to smuggle her out of Syria and get her back to the UK do not succeed."
Earlier this month, Labour pper Lord Alf Dubbs called for Begum to be returned to the UK to face trial.
Lord Dubs, who fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the Kinderstransport scheme, called for her come to the UK and "face justice," and admitted he was "probably trafficked" to join ISIS.
He said: "Wouldn’t it be right for Shamima Begum, a British-born person, educated and brought up here and probably trafficked to Syria as a 15-year-old, should be allowed to return and face justice?
"Or does the Government seriously believe she should stay in a prison camp indefinitely."