The group’s leader has already been identified as Siddhartha Dhar, the Londoner described as the ‘new Jihadi John’.
Security sources have now told media on Sunday they suspect that the tall man on his left in the film is Mohammed Reza Haque, 35, nicknamed Giant.
Before he slipped out of Britain for Syria two years ago, Haque worked as a bodyguard for a notorious preacher.
He was pictured at a rally brandishing the black ISIS flag alongside others who held banners declaring: ‘British soldiers burn in Hell.’
In the ISIS video released earlier this month, the masked terrorists stand behind a line of five ‘British spies’ – all kneeling and wearing orange jumpsuits. They kill each of them in turn, shooting them in the back of the head.
Haque was already in Syria when Dhar, a close associate, skipped bail and joined ISIS in September 2014.
Officials believe the execution video might have been a ‘loyalty test’ for Dhar and his group. A source said that with pressure on ISIS mounting, paranoia had grown among members and some had begun ‘turning on each other’.
Haque travelled from Stansted to Istanbul via Cyprus with another man on January 13, 2014. From there, they are thought to have crossed into Syria.
In Britain, Haque was a constant presence during radical marches, but often wore a mask to hide his identity.
The preacher he worked with cannot be identified for legal reasons. Despite Haque’s prominence, he – like Dhar – was able to evade border checks, raising questions about how closely known radicals are being monitored, Daily Mail reported.
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