Husband of British jihadi bride Shamima Begum linked to Dutch Islamist terror cell
Dutch Islamist fighter Yago Riedijk, 27, married the British schoolgirl within weeks of her arriving in Syria
THE husband of jihadi bride Shamima Begum was linked to an IS terror cell planning Paris-style attacks, it emerged yesterday.
Dutch Islamist fighter Yago Riedijk, 27, was in regular contact with seven men feared to have targeted a rock festival in the city of Arnhem.
A Dutch anti-terror source said last night: “The chances that Riedijk was not in touch with members of the group planning this bloodbath is nil.
“The British girl is being described as a vulnerable victim but she married an extremely dangerous man who waged jihad at home as well as in Syria.”
Police smashed the Arnhem cell last year as the men were about to launch their attack.
An undercover officer had infiltrated their ranks and supplied them with dummy weapons which failed to fire as police swooped.
Investigators learned of their plot to use car bombs, grenades and AK47 assault rifles at a major event, believed to be a rock festival.
Their plan was to walk among innocent revellers in a line killing everyone in their path with rifles and grenades before detonating a huge car bomb.
Dutch police said Riedijk, who surfaced in Syria in 2016, was one of 29 Muslim men from Arnhem identified as having been radicalised.
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Of the 29, six travelled to Syria where at least one has died and five have returned from the war zone.
Riedijk, said to have been wounded in fighting then tortured by IS chiefs who branded him a spy, was separated from his British bride as they fled IS’s last stronghold in Baghuz.
He was understood to have surrendered to a Syrian rebel group but his whereabouts were unknown last night.
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