Brighton. A town that has gone from seaside holiday destination to a cradle for jihadis

Previously known by Private Eye as ‘Skidrow on Sea’ and latterly as the site of a failed experiment in ‘Deep Greenery’, Brighton and Hove now has another unwanted claim to fame.  Brighton is now the latest place to have a police investigation about ‘British’ Muslims becoming involved in Jihad activity.

Sky News has reported that the family of a dead Jihadi is being investigated by police.

Sky News said:

“The family home of a British teenager killed fighting in Syria is one of four houses searched by counter-terrorism police investigating his death.

Abdullah Deghayes, whose uncle was a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, died in the war-hit country last month after leaving the UK in January.

The 18-year-old’s two brothers Jafar and Amer also travelled to Syria, according to their father Abubaker Deghayes.

Amer had suffered a bullet wound to his stomach in the same battle in which his sibling was killed, Mr Deghayes added.

The homes that were raided were all in the Brighton and Hove area and included Abdullah’s property in Arundel Drive East in Saltdean, near Brighton.

He was the nephew of Omar Deghayes, who was held by the US as an enemy combatant at the Guantanamo detention camp from 2002 to 2007 after being arrested in Pakistan.

Sussex Police said the latest searches were linked to inquiries into Abdullah’s death and whether any terrorism offences had been committed.

The force added no arrests were anticipated on Tuesday.”

The force may not anticipate arrests but there are lot of British non-Muslims who would like to see arrests in cases like these. We have a situation where Britain is harbouring  violent enemy combatants who are allied to an ideology that is totally incompatible with UK society and we should be expecting arrests and trials and deportations.

Sadly I believe that the Deghayes Jihad case is only the tip of the iceberg.  I believe that there are more jihadis like this residing in Islamic communities up and down the country and Britain’s Muslims have not done enough to divert such people from Islamism and violence.

The trickle of ‘British Jihadis’ that are being exposed remind me greatly of the cases of Islamic Grooming Gangs where we were told by the media and by the police that these were exceptional cases and caused by specific local situations, but later it transpired that these gangs were operating in various towns and cities up and down the UK.  It does make me wonder if there are similar numbers of ‘British’ Jihadis as there are members of Islamic rape gangs? If so then we have a great and growing problem that must be dealt with by the forces of law and order.