38-year-old Aine Davis was taken into custody on Wednesday night by Metropolitan Police from Luton Airport, just north of London. Deported from Turkey, he has alleged links to the Islamic State (IS) group cell, ‘The Beatles.” The group held roughly twenty-four Western citizens captive during the heydays of IS when the outfit exerted its power over significant chunks of Syria and Iraq. The cell- named after the famous Liverpool band because of its members’ British accents- was responsible for the beheadings of those held captive -later broadcast online- including American journalists James Foley And Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.

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Davis, charged under the Terrorism Act, will remain in custody till his hearing on September 2. He confirmed his name and date of birth during a short hearing at London’s Westminister Magistrates Court. Prosecutors claim that his charges include “possession of firearm for terror purposes” and two charges linked with funding terrorist activities. The latter relates to a case where his friend attempted to smuggle 20,000 euros into Syria. The charges concern offences committed in 2013 and 2014.

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Davis, nabbed by Turkish anti-terror authorities in 2015, was convicted of being part of the Islamic State in 2017. However, he denied his links to “The Beatles.” A gang of four, they met in West London, getting to know each other before travelling to the West Asian region to join ISIL. Of the four, three- including Davies- remain in prison or official custody while one is dead. ‘”Jihadi John”, responsible for the beheadings, was killed in a drone strike in 2015. Alexandra Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh remain in American prisons after US-backed Kurdish soldiers- the Peshmerga- captured them in 2018. The former has been sentenced to life, while the latter can expect the same fate after his formal convicted later this month.

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