Canadian spy accused of recruiting British teen Shamima Begum for IS
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A 15-year-old British teen Shamima Begum was smuggled into Syria for Islamic State by a Canadian spy, claimed The Secret History of the Five Eyes by Richard Kerbaj. The writer claims the spy's role was covered up by security services.
The book is about Five Eyes, a network of intelligence sharing between Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Shamima Begum is a 15-year-old school student who travelled from east London to Syria in 2015. She was accompanied by her classmates - Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase - at Bethnal Green academy. The book claims that Canadian intelligence did not know about the girls until four days after they left the UK.
According to the book, the three girls met with a man named Mohammed Al Rashed at the Istanbul bus station to go to Syria and join IS. He is suspected to be a double agent who smuggled dozens of people from Britain to join the terror organisation. He also shared Begum's passport details with Ottawa.
The Met police reportedly know about the role of a Canadian double agent in smuggling girls out of the country. The Canadian government is now accused of withholding information about the whereabouts of Begum, reported The Guardian.
Begum is now 23-year-old and is in a detention camp in northern Syria. She gave birth to three children and all of them died young. In 2019, the Supreme Court of the UK upheld the decision to not allow her to return to the country.
Her family lawyer Tasnime Akunjee alleged that the teenager was trafficked out of the country. And the suggestion that a western intelligence asset was involved in smuggling her will spark the debate over the removal of her British citizenship.
In her first live interview, Begum appealed to then PM Boris Johnson that she be allowed to return to the UK. She apologised for joining IS and said she would "rather die" than go back. She added that she knows that some people will not believe that she has changed. "I tell you from the bottom of my heart that I regret every, every decision I've made since I stepped into Syria and I will live with it for the rest of my life."
Kerbaj told the Guardian that he spoke with several Canadian officials for the book and they confirmed the timeline of events. He added that the Canadian government has covered this up for seven years and British authorities also refused to speak after learning of Rashed's involvement.