‘Jihadi John’ was denied entry to Tanzania in 2009

DAR ES SALAAM — Mohammed Emwazi, the Briton identified as Islamic State killer “Jihadi John,” was denied entry to Tanzania in 2009 at the request of British security services, a Tanzanian police source said on Tuesday.

The source’s version of events tallies with emails published by London activist group Cage last week that they said were from Emwazi, recently named as the militant shown beheading American, British and Syrian hostages on IS videos.

Security officers at Dar es Salaam airport refused to allow entry to Emwazi and two friends - another Briton and a German - because they were on an official immigration stop list, said the source who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Immigration officials said the request came from British intelligence rather than the international police organization Interpol, the source added. British security officials would not comment on the episode.

“When Emwazi and his friends were told they would not be allowed to enter Tanzania, they caused a commotion and tried to force their way out of the airport,” the source said.

“I think the stop order against Emwazi and his friends was issued at the request of the British intelligence service.”

In meetings and email exchanges with Cage between 2009 and 2012, Emwazi said he and two friends had gone to Tanzania in August 2009 for a safari holiday after he completed his studies in computer programming at London’s University of Westminster.

He told Cage he was deported from Tanzania to Britain via Amsterdam, and quizzed by agents from Britain’s MI5 domestic security service who told him they believed he was attempting to reach Somalia to join the Islamist militant group al Shabaab, something he denied.

Court documents from 2011 have also shown that Britain suspected him of being part of a network involved in procuring funds and equipment “for terrorism-related purposes” in Somalia.

Senior Tanzanian law enforcement officials, including the acting director of criminal investigation (DCI), Diwani Athumani, have declined to comment on the events of 2009.