The small boat migrant who smuggled himself into Britain and claimed to be 17 – but he was really an ex-Isis fighter aged 42
- Iraqi, named as ‘AJ’, is a security threat due to previous active service with Isis
- Man, 42, thought to be oldest person to pretend to be an unaccompanied minor
A former Isis fighter smuggled himself into Britain on a small boat across the Channel, posing as a 17-year-old – despite being aged 42, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The man is thought to be the oldest person to pretend to be an unaccompanied minor and is understood to have spent up to a week in a local authority residential facility with other under-18s before his lies were exposed.
The Iraqi, named only as ‘AJ’, is a security threat because of his previous active service with the terror group in his own country.
He is staying in a three-star hotel along with other adult migrants as he appeals a decision – at taxpayers’ expense – to have him deported.
Yesterday, a Home Office spokesman described his case as one of the most ‘egregious examples’ of why this country must stop asylum-seekers crossing from France.
A former Isis fighter smuggled himself into Britain on a small boat across the Channel, posing as a 17-year-old – despite being aged 42 (file image)
The revelation comes as Rishi Sunak granted a concession to 60 Tory rebel MPs by amending the Illegal Migration Bill – seen as vital to his ‘stop the boats’ pledge – to include compulsory age checks for those claiming they are children.
The MoS can reveal that ‘AJ’ arrived in late 2021, crossing the Channel in a small boat and using fake ID he bought online.
Despite his thick beard, receding hair and ‘numerous’ tattoos on his arms and neck, he applied for asylum as an Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child and was put in local authority care in London.
But after suspicious officials checked his fingerprints against a Europe-wide database of asylum-seekers, his true identity was exposed and he was apprehended.
The MoS has learned that he was first encountered by US and UK security forces in Iraq in 2006 and recorded as a terrorist.
He is now on conditional bail and is fighting his deportation in a Legal Aid-funded case, claiming he is suffering from depression which can only be treated by the NHS and that deporting him to Iraq would breach his human rights.
The Iraqi, named only as ‘AJ’, is a security threat because of his previous active service with the terror group Isis in his own country (file image)
Last night, a security source told the MoS: ‘This is one of the most extraordinary cases we’ve ever encountered. It’s common for adult migrants to claim they are children, but we think this is the oldest person to make that claim.
‘The brazenness of his claims was mind-blowing. He initially said he had fled to Britain alone after his farmer parents abandoned him, but his story had holes in it.
‘He was also very clearly not the age he claimed to be. Some of the tattoos on his arms had been there a long time and had started to fade. He also had a thick beard and lines on his forehead and around his eyes. When we checked him on the Eurodac system, his true identity popped up, and his name was red-listed, meaning he is considered a potential threat to national security. He is known to have been part of Isis in Iraq and took part in terrorism campaigns. We are now trying our hardest to get him out of the country.’
A Home Office source said: ‘This is another egregious example of why we must stop the boats – we need to secure our borders, crack down on this problem and detain and swiftly remove those who come here illegally.’
