A UK-trained Navy officer who joined Daesh turns supergrass after arrest by Kuwaiti authorities. Supergrass is a British slang term for an informer, which originated in London.

He has become one of the most senior figures to hand over intelligence on the terrorist group.

Kuwait-born Ali Omar Mohammad Alosaimi, 27, was picked up on the Iraq-Syria border on July 4, according to officials.

Alosaimi, who had three years of merchant navy officers’ training at South Tyneside College’s Marine School – one of the UK’s most prestigious maritime colleges – left his home in South Shields for Syria in April 2014.

Alosaimi, who has since married a Syrian woman with whom he has a child, is now cooperating with Kuwaiti authorities, who said he has confessed to playing a senior role within Daesh.

He said he was put in charge of oil fields in Daesh-held territory around Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital in northeast Syria, where he managed exports. He said the group’s leaders had chosen him for his proficiency in English, expert engineering knowledge and previous experience at a state-owned Kuwaiti oil company.

Daesh seized control of the Syrian government’s most lucrative fields after capturing vast swathes of the east of the country in the summer of 2014. It appointed some of its most skilled foreign jihadists to run the oil business – the group’s biggest money-maker.

Read More – The Telegraph

Featured Image – Ali Alosaimi is reported to have been arrested by Kuwaiti authorities – REUTERS