Luxury Hotels and Ferry Trips For British Jihadists Travelling to Syria

Jihadi wannabe terrorists are taking advantage of European open borders to enjoy ‘grand-tour’ style jaunts across the continent on their way to the Islamic State, taking in the sights and staying at luxury hotels, analysis suggests. 

One British passport holder, Dhul Qarnayn, took to twitter to describe his hijra, or journey to the Islamic State, posting photographs of the Swiss Alps, a cruise ship which took him from Italy to Greece, and a luxury hotel. The journey has been likened to the grand-tours often embarked upon by aristocratic Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries to see the great wonders of the classical world. 

British newspaper The Sun reports his comments on the photographs, uploaded after his journey along other pictures of his new life in the Islamic State. He wrote: “My hijra (migration) to shaam (Islamic State), mountaina (sic) of switzland (sic), cruise from italy to greece and hotel.in turkey…”

Other pictures on his twitter feed will be familiar to watchers of jihad, and include pictures of the fighter’s pet cat lying besides an Ak-47 assault rifle, and an infant’s seat with a rifle with the remark “You chose how you want to stand”. The radicalisation of young children is a common theme in the social media output of converts to the Islamic State. 

You chose how you want to stand. pic.twitter.com/bsSc1X6Fm3

— DhulQarnayn(@qulhumdulillah) December 1, 2014

Because there are no passport checks within the European Union, apparently dozens of emigrating jihadists have been left free to enjoy the best of Europe while on their way to cause havoc in the near east. 

Qarnayan, who now appears to be settled in the Islamic State, is just one of many British passport holders who have answered the call to shaam and have crossed the continent to fight or settle. While the government officially states 500 Brits have gone to fight, Breitbart London reported the comments of one Muslim member of parliament last month who claimed over 2,000 had actually made hijra. Khalid Mahmood, Britain’s first Muslim MP said: “I think 2,000 is a better estimate. My experience in Birmingham is it is a huge, huge problem”.

It may come as no surprise that leaving the UK to fight abroad is so easy for those minded to do so. It was revealed last month that an associate of hate-preacher Anjem Choudary arrested on suspicion of supporting a banned organisation fled the country with his heavily pregnant wife and children after being asked to hand in his passport. Because it wasn’t confiscated Siddhartha Dhar, 31, wasn’t stopped when he boarded a coach for Paris and is now fighting in Syria. 

Days after arriving in the Islamic State Dhar tweeted an image of him holding his newly born son and an assault rifle, and mocked the “wicked witch of the West” Theresa May for being so incompetent to have let him escape.