Hundreds of terrorists could be using British benefits to fund their extremist activities after the Government admitted that it did not know the true scale of problem

There have been calls for a thorough investigation into the issue after two men were convicted of channeling thousands of pounds of fraudulent housing benefits to the Islamist fanatics behind the Paris and Brussels terrorist outrages. With more than 850 "Britons" thought to be currently fighting in Syria, counter terror experts believe large amounts of taxpayers' money is ending up in the hands of jihadists desperate to wage war on the West. Birmingham City Council has apologized and vowed to review its systems after it emerged that it had paid more than £5,400 to a "Belgian" man while he was fighting in Syria. Anouar Haddouchi moved to Birmingham from Brussels in 2009 along with his wife, Muslim convert , Julie Maes, and their two children. They lived in private rented accommodation and despite being foreign nationals, were legally entitled to child, housing and council tax benefit. Haddouchi even boasted to his friends how he was able to live "very comfortably" on the money he received from the British state. Friend, Azzedine Kaddour, told police that Haddouchi had managed to bank a large amount of cash from his benefit payments and had used the money to fund his journey to Syria where he joined Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil). He said: "Anouar Haddouchi financed his trip with money he had in his bank account. In essence he emptied his account to go to Syria. A good chunk of that came from the benefits he received in the UK." In an extraordinary blunder Birmingham City Council continued to pay his housing benefit directly into his Lloyds TSB Islamic bank account for 11 months after he had left the country, even though his landlord wrote to officials to say that he was no longer living at the address.