Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Isis 'Beatle' Alexanda Kotey admits he helped plan London terror plot

British militant says attack was intended to be part of plan to create sleeper cells in European countries

Samuel Osborne
Tuesday 28 May 2019 21:40 BST
Alexanda Kotey, originally from London, also revealed his role as a hostage-keeper
Alexanda Kotey, originally from London, also revealed his role as a hostage-keeper (ITV News)

A member of an Isis cell nicknamed “The Beatles” has admitted his part in a plot to kill soldiers, police officers and civilians in a series of drive-by moped shootings in London.

Alexanda Kotey, who is now in a jail operated by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces jail in Syria, also admitted to helping to direct funds towards the attackers, Tarik Hassane and Suhaib Majeed, who were sentenced to life in prison in 2016.

They had planned to shoot their targets from a moped in drive-by shootings at Shepherd’s Bush police station and the Parachute Regiment Territorial Barracks in White City.

Kotey told ITV News the attack was intended to be part of a wider plan to create sleeper cells in European countries.

He said: “The idea was to plant people in countries so that if there was any aggression from these countries they would have people who would conduct a mission.”

Kotey, who is originally from London, also said he would arrange for donations made in Britain to reach the terror group in Syria.

“When people would raise donations in Britain I would co-ordinate with them to send money to us,” he said. ”I used my phone to communicate.”

He revealed his role as a hostage-keeper for “The Beatles”, which he said involved “extracting” information from western prisoners.

He said he forced hostages to divulge the email addresses of relatives so he could inform them their loved ones had been taken hostage.

However, Kotey denied he took part in any killings.

“I don’t see in my case it makes a very big difference if I was actually there or not there,” he said.

He added: “I have a lot of accusations against me, they are quite heavy accusations so it wouldn’t change much if I said I was there or I wasn’t.”

Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi seen in new video for first time in five years

Last year, government ministers were accused of misleading parliament on why the UK dropped its opposition to the death penalty for Kotey and another member of “The Beatles”, El Shafee Sheikh.

Kotey and Elsheikh, who had their British citizenship stripped, are likely to be sent to the US for prosecution.

Official documents have named them as members of the cell, claiming they beheaded more than 27 hostages and tortured many more.

Mohammed Emwazi, also known as ”Jihadi John”, was been killed in a drone strike in 2015 while the remaining member, Aine Davis, is imprisoned in Turkey.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in