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Under Cover Escape
Outrage as suspected cop killer evades UK customs in a niqab
A man wanted in connection with the murder of policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky is thought to have fled Britain to Somalia using his sister's passport and wearing her niqab.
Mustaf Jamma - still the prime suspect in the killing, despite the convictions of his younger brother and an associate earlier this week - managed to slip through airport security at Heathrow some time between Christmas Day and New Year's Day last year, just six weeks after PC Beshenivsky's murder.
Police now reckon that he was wearing the full Islamic niqab - a black garment that covers the entire body leaving only a slit for the eyes.
Jamma was Britain's Most Wanted Man at the time - ports and airports were issues with an "All Persons Bulletin" alert warning that he might try to flee to his native Somalia following the murder of PC Beshenivsky. Moreover, Britain was still assumed to be on its highest security level following July's terror attacks on the London Underground.
Jamma came to Britain on a forged passport as an asylum seeker. Though he served four jail terms in six years after arriving in the UK, the Home Office refused to deport him or other members of his clan, claiming Somalia was "too dangerous." However, according to The Times, Jamma is living under armed guard in Somalia, where his family are powerful warlords.
He was released from prison just six months before the armed robbery in which the policewoman died. Another policewoman was seriously injured during the robbery.
Opposition politicians have rounded on the government: The Jamma case, where the Islamist veil, failed asylum policies and bog-brained multiculturalism overlap, is deeply embarrassing for the government.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said, "The idea that under any circumstances you could be let through passport control wearing a veil is barely credible," he said.
"Doing so when an All Persons Bulletin for murder has been issued demonstrates that our borders are not just porous but non-existent."
He added that suspected Tube bomber Osman Hussein had escaped to Italy on the Eurostar following a botched attack in July that year - security should have "got a grip" after Hussein's escape, he said.
It is truly difficult to imagine how a member of airport security could wave someone through when they are wearing what amounts to a bag over their head and entire body. Bin Laden himself could be living in Bradford if other countries lowered their standards to Britain's level. Newspapers report that Britain's checks for bombs, weapons etc are extremely thorough while identity checks are weak, but this takes the biscuit.
Conspiracy theorists might wonder if Heathrow is riddled with Islamists in the same way Paris Charles de Gaulle is reported to be. It's more likely to have been a bored security guard who feared being sent to "sensitivity and diversity training" for insulting a Muslim women by requesting she remove her veil.
Whatever the cause, calls for a ban on veils in airports - which the public is reported to strongly favour - will only become louder. It's inconceivable that this time next year a ban will not be in place.
