The Govt will not use eye scanners at borders to root out jihadis. Pictured: troops liberating Mosul
Experts claim the technology is the most effective way to identify Islamic State fighters entering the UK, however the Government has refused to install the system.
SAS troops have spent the last three months scanning the eyes and recording unique iris measurements of jihadis.
The fighters, who have been part of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, were captured on the battlefield before the elite troops began to record their unique eye details.
It’s “almost impossible to replicate” the accuracy of this technology elsewhere. However, the Home Office will not install scanners at borders as it has been decommissioned for years.
As many as 850 Britons are estimated to be fighting with the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East.
Many of them could be seeking to return to the UK after the terrorist group’s main strongholds in Syria were taken over by coalition forces.
The military has grown frustrated with the refusal to install eye-scanning technology amid fears a failure to act could let confirmed terrorists through the UK border.
Raffaello Pantucci, of the Royal United Services institute, told the Telegraph: “Eye-scanning is the best method of identification. It is the most accurate and almost impossible to replicate.
The Home Office says eye recognition technology was decommissioned in 2012, and there are no plans to bring it back into action.
It comes as a Briton who battled ISIS in Syria said letting jihadis return was like “inviting the wolf to dinner”.
Having battled the extremists for the past three years alongside Syrian Democratic Forces, Macer Gifford said there was a “real risk” those returning could carry out terror attacks.
Earlier this month Max Hill QC spoke of “losing a generation” by automatically using the courts to punish those who have travelled to the war zone.
The terrorism legislation watchdog also called for a focus on “reintegration”.
But Mr Gifford, 30, from Cambridge, has issued a plea to the Government to sit up and listen as he believes it is not possible for former IS fighters to return and be reformed.
He said: “When I see a man like this official who said he wants these young people back, when I see them saying this on national television – you are inviting the wolf to dinner.”
He added: “The foreign fighters are actually by far the worst, and the most aggressive, most deranged of all the Islamic State fighters.”
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