Brit foreign aid project suspended after it was revealed UK taxpayers were funding extremists in Syria
Taxpayer cash ring-fenced to fund the supposedly unarmed Free Syrian Police force had been diverted to extremists with links to the al-Nusra Front, a probe found.
A FOREIGN aid project was suspended last night after it was revealed UK taxpayers were funding extremists in Syria.
A probe found some of the £12million of aid cash funding the supposedly unarmed Free Syrian Police force had been diverted to extremists with links to the al-Nusra Front.
The terror cell is the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.
It was set up after the start of the Syrian civil war in an attempt to bring law and order to parts of the country that were controlled by opponents of the Assad regime.
But a BBC Panorama investigation found numerous links with extremist groups in Syria.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson approved a further £4milllion to fund the FSP in April.
Last night the Foreign Office said it had suspended all funding while it investigates.
Tory MP and former chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee Crispin Blunt said: “You’ve got people being sentenced to death for homosexuality.
"Clearly that is completely and utterly unacceptable.”
The controversial Adam Smith International aid consultancy firm had been in charge of the taxpayer-funded project.
A government spokesman said: “We take allegations of co-operation with terrorist groups and of human rights abuses extremely seriously.
"The Foreign Office has suspended this programme while we investigate these allegations."