Terror: How jihadist group ISIS agents are recruiting gullible youths

 Turns out now that terrorist agents are radicalising bright girls

As security agents and social scientists grapple with the rising phenomenon of young educated men and women opting for jihadism in Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Iraq, The Nairobian can now exclusively reveal how these terror groups recruit gullible Kenyans to beef up their ‘army.’

 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) fighters from Kenya are recruited at a base in California estate in Nairobi, then taken to a hideout in Runda, before travelling to  Kampala by road in public vehicles. From Uganda, the recruits are then flown to Syria or continue their journey by road all the way to South Africa to catch connecting flights to the war-torn Arab country.

Enquiries at the Uganda High Commission in Kenya bore no fruits. A female official at the embassy said the High Commissioner, Her Excellency Angelina Wapakhabulo was in a meeting. The First Secretary, Andrew Kalyango, we were informed, was out attending a one-week conference at a city hotel.

The initial recruitment base, according to our informers, was Eastleigh before it was relocated to California.

 “The recruitment agents shifted following constant security surveillance in Eastleigh,” a source revealed.

According to these sources, young women are increasingly being lured into terrorism because they are easy to manipulate. Sources privy to intelligence further revealed that a majority of the recruits are ‘Christians’ who reside in city slums.

The Runda hideout has not been identified because the four informers who had been approached to join ISIS but changed their mind demanded to be paid before they could lead security agents to the house.

In March, informers shared this information with some intelligence officers but no action was taken as their immediate superiors were not interested in giving out ‘something small.’

“The informers wanted money before leading security agents to the recruitment location and Runda hideout,” said one of our sources who added that it is possible the ISIS recruiters have changed locations and the modus operandi. The source noted that the situation could have changed on the ground since the offer was made about two months ago.

 

Around the same time when NIS (National Intelligence Service) received the ISIS tip-off, the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) on March 9, issued alerts to the effect that a top ISIS commander was urging Al-Shabaab to hit three countries.

“Hamil Al-Bushra, ISIS commander encourages Al-Shabaab to carry out ‘Westgate style’ attacks inside Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia,” read the warning.

It is however still not clear how the recruitment exercise is carried out. Nonetheless, information from multiple sources indicate that Nairobi and Mombasa have now turned into ISIS recruitment strongholds following similar successful forays by the Al-Shabaab.

A highly placed government official said the Kenyan fighters were being lured into terrorist activities through the internet. We were however unable to ascertain whether social media was the direct first platform for recruitment, or if ISIS agents first make physical contact with potential recruits.

Both police and civilian sources claim Kenyans are paid handsomely to recruit on behalf of ISIS.

“In Nairobi, they seem to target graduates from poor backgrounds. What I am not sure about is whether the new recruits are paid before accepting to travel out of the country as ISIS or Al-Shabaab sympathisers,” stated a source.

 The revelations come hot on the heels of fears that two girls could have travelled to Syria. Relatives of Salwa Abdalla and Twafiqia Dahir suspect the two girls may have been indoctrinated into jihadism after going missing on May 13, 2015.

It is believed that the two girls have communicated with some of their close friends and indicated that they are in Syria. By the time of going to press, their exact whereabouts had not been established as the government investigates the Syria link.

Police were however unwilling to disclose whether they had checked Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Moi International Airport and Eldoret International Airport to establish if the girls used any of the facilities to fly out.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet was guarded and did not reveal much, only stating that, “we will check” in a text reply.

Meanwhile, the National Counter-Terrorism Centre and NIS are allegedly spying on some individuals said to be sympathetic to ISIS.

On May 6, detectives in Mombasa unveiled a woman they claimed had joined the global jihadist movement and was plotting to enlist with Al-Shabaab. They claimed in court that Halima Adan Ali and two other suspects were co-conspirators as they moved to oppose their bail application.

“The accused have links to Syria and Sudan. If any of the accused is to reach Syria, it will be hard to get them even through our police or diplomatic relations given what is ongoing in that country,” said the prosecutor, Eugene Wangila.

Halima was arrested in Machakos on April 3. Police claimed she recruited two other Kenyan women, Maryam Said Aboud and Khadija Abdulkadir Abubakar, together with medical student Ummul Khayr Sadir Abdalla from Zanzibar.

Detectives allege that Khadija, Maryam and the Zanzibari were recruited through the internet after meeting on an online forum managed by a Kenyan fugitive in Somalia. They were allegedly lured through a Syrian female contact with the promise of being married off to ISIS fighters in Somalia and eventually ending up in Syria where they hoped to reach through Turkey after flying from Mogadishu.

Police officers we spoke to said recruits are duped into believing that they will lead a good life, adding that relatives are not forthcoming with information to help with investigations and only offer to help on realising that their kin could be in danger.

“There is nothing much we as police can do since the recruitment process is so secretive. In addition, we are not in control of factors like poverty and unemployment that influence criminal minds or deviant behaviour,” said a senior officer.