A terror suspect accused of being a member of a banned Islamist group has skipped bail, evaded UK border controls with his wife and four children and fled to Syria, according to government lawyers.
Siddartha Dhar, 31, known as Abu Rumaysah on social media, was arrested along with the well-known Islamist Anjem Choudary as a part of a series of raids in September.
Prosecutors told Westminster magistrates court they believed Dhar had travelled to Syria after boarding a coach from Victoria station heading to Paris with his family the day after being released on bail.
Speaking at a hearing at which a number of those arrested were appealing to vary their bail conditions, including the return of their driving licences, the chief magistrate, Judge Howard Riddle, told the court: “I will start by making it clear that Mr Dhar is not here.”
Luke Ponte, prosecuting, told the court: “On 27 September this year, the day after he [Dhar] was released on police bail, his wife and four children took a coach from London Victoria to Paris.
“He failed to comply with the conditions to surrender his travel documents to the police.
“It’s my understanding of the matter that he is no longer in the jurisdiction and that he is currently in Syria.”
However, Dhar’s barrister, Richard Dorman, said there was no certainty about whether his client was in the war-torn country, telling the court: “It seems to be guesswork that he is in Syria.”
The former shadow home secretary David Davis said it beggared belief that Dhar could escape so easily. “To allow him to surrender his own passport, rather than take it off him, seems at best careless and at worst a terrible error of judgment.”
Dhar was among nine men, including Choudary, held and questioned by police in September on suspicion of terrorism offences before being released on bail and ordered to return to police stations in December.
During court proceedings Choudary, 47, and others applied to vary strict bail conditions in order to get driving licences returned.
Riddle ruled the seven still in the UK could have their confiscated driving licences back.
The judge arranged a date for the group to return to court and hear his final decision on their bail conditions.
He said: “I’m going to make some changes to these conditions now, others I’m going to think about.
“Identification documents used for identification and travel will remain surrendered.”
Judge Riddle said he would cancel the condition requiring the group to avoid publishing or disseminating extremist material, saying: “It’s not necessary because it would be a criminal offence if you did that.”
Choudhary wore a blue robe and glasses as he sat in the dock, flanked by Shakil Chapra, Abdul Muhid, Mohammed Rahman, Mohammed Shamsuddin.
His older brother, Yazdani Choudary, and ex-professional boxer Anthony Small, who were also arrested on September 25 this year and later bailed, did not attend the hearing which was not mandatory.
Choudary told the Guardian he did not know anything about Dhar’s location other than what was revealed in court.
“The first I heard about it was on Friday. The barrister … did say there was no evidence that he [Dhar] was in Syria … the idea that he is in Syria comes from the police.
“I don’t know anything more than what I’ve heard from them.”
