Extremists infiltrated UK varsities: Imam

LONDON: Islamic fundamentalists have infiltrated four British universities and are indoctrinating Muslim students to participate in Jihad, a leading Imam has claimed.

"Extremists have entered the varsities and radicalized students so deeply that they are close to travelling to Afghanistan and Iraq to engage in Jihad or holy war," Sheikh Musa Admani, an advisor on Muslim Affairs to Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell, has alleged.

Admani, who is a Muslim chaplain at Metropolitan University, has alleged that four institutions, Brunel, Bedfordshire, Sheffield Hallam and Manchester Metropolitan varsities, have been infiltrated.

Officials at Brunel University located in West London have launched a high-level probe to verify Admani's allegations.

The imam runs a charity, The Luqman Institute of Education and Development that helps to rehabilitate young men who have fallen prey to extremism and sends teams to campuses to tackle indoctrination.

Fundamentalists had flouted campus bans on extreme organisations by posing as ordinary Muslims or forming societies with alternative names. They had won their peers' trust in varsity prayer rooms before inviting them to off-campus lectures.

"We are dealing with people filled with hatred," he said. "It's hatred for the white man and the West, because they have read the works of Qurb and Maududi (radicals followed by al-Qaeda) who set Muslims apart from everyone else," Admani said.

A spokesman for the varsity said, "The safety of our students and staff is paramount, as is the security of our campus. We will look into the Admani's institute's claims."

The imam's allegations came days after a court was told that al-Qaeda terrorist Dhiren Barot, a Hindu converted to Islam who plotted to bomb the Tube under the Thames, used a forged pass to carry out research on Brunel's campus.

The 34-year-old was recently jailed for at least 40 years last week after he admitted planning terrorist attacks in Britain and America.

Last week, Mi5 British Intelligence Agency Chief Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller had said that over 200 terror networks had been identified in Britain, involving at least 1,600 people and 30 plots to kill were being investigated.