A Muslim policewoman with London's Metropolitan (Met) Police Service is under investigation after the Daily Mail revealed that she used Twitter to send a number of racist messages and was also in regular contact with a suspected female jihadi in Syria.
The woman, whose family arrived in the UK from Bangladesh, was identified by the Daily Mail as 26-year-old Ruby Begum.
The newspaper claimed that two years before she joined the Met's Taskforce, a division which deals with public order, in 2016, Begum posted several Twitter messages to insult Jews and mock the 9/11 attacks.
A Met spokesperson said in a statement that "there is no place within the Met for any racist, homophobic, or otherwise hateful attitudes and officers and staff can expect robust action should they be found to hold or express such views".
"The information provided by the Mail on Sunday regarding a police constable's social media posts is concerning and is being treated very seriously. Following that assessment, the Met made a voluntary referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct who determined that the matter should be investigated locally", the statement pointed out.
It referred to the Directorate of Professional Standards, which will "now conduct a thorough investigation to establish the full circumstances behind [Begum's] social media posts, adding that the officer has been notified of the investigation and placed on restricted duties".
The statement comes after the Daily Mail reported that Begum had tweeted most of her anti-Semitic comments shortly after Israel launched Operation Strong Cliff against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip in July 2014.
A Palestinian Hamas militant takes part in a protest over the possible eviction of several Palestinian families from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in the Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, in the northern Gaza Strip May 7, 2021
© REUTERS / MOHAMMED SALEM
According to the newspaper, in one of the tweets, Begum wrote, "Dirty Zionist. Jahannam [hell] is awaiting", while in another message she argued that "Israel have [sic] no limits", adding, "Scumbags I can't wait for the day they get severely punished".
Later in 2014, she reportedly asserted that "Zionists have no hearts! They'll get what's coming to them subhanallah [glory be to God]". The Daily Mail cited experts on anti-Semitism as saying that the term "Zionist" is typically used as a code for "Jews".
It also appears, the Daily Mail reported, that Begum likened the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the Holocaust, tweeting in January 2015: "It's alright when Israel does it #HolocaustRemembranceDay".
In a separate tweet dating back to 11 September 2019, the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Begum reportedly tweeted: "Omg [Oh my God] it's 9/11 today? Jokes, I only noticed".
The message was echoed in 2014, when the 26-year-old woman tweeted: "Must be stupid if you think I'm gonna do 2 mins silence for 9/11", according to the Daily Mail.
On top of that, the newspaper referred to Begum's alleged online communication with a female Daesh* jihadi, which reportedly occurred between September and October 2014, months after the terrorist group declared its so-called caliphate in Syria.
Begum had run the now-suspended Twitter account under the name Ruby Beees since 2012, posting more than 25,000 messages, with most of them described by the Daily Mail as "unremarkable".
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other nations.