Former executive director of the National Operations Centre (NOC) Garvin Heerah says foreign fighters heading to join Isis will adopt a number of circuitous routes to reach Turkey, the most common entry gate to Isis-controlled territory.
Speaking to the Sunday Guardian on Thursday after compiling data on the Isis route taken by foreign fighters and based on research conducted by International Business Times Research correspondent Alessandria Masi, Heerah said: “The journey that would-be jihadis take to the Islamic State group’s so-called caliphate can take place over dozens of different itineraries.”
And, it is compounded by the facets of a well-oiled transnational organised crime network. What used to be a simple crossing of the border into Syria after an uneventful flight to a Turkish airport, Heerah said, “has now become, for many aspiring holy warriors, a fragmented journey, one that can involve multiple stopovers, bribery and getting smuggled over the border.”
He said security measures recently imposed by many nations to prevent foreign fighters from joining Isis, as the Islamic State group is also known, have increased the variety of routes to the caliphate.
According to Heerah, these new routes often require a combination of land, air and sea journeys, but they all shared one element, they end in Turkey, from where the caliphate can be reached by crossing over the porous border with Syria.
Heerah said the way to get to Turkey had changed, but the country remained the most common entry point to Isis-controlled territory, as it had been since the group declared itself a caliphate with its de facto headquarters in Raqqa, Syria.
When asked about the route Trinidadians took to join Isis before reaching Turkey and Syria, Heerah said one had to be aware that the journey to Syria and Turkey was controlled by an underground network that was tied to legitimate businesses and organisations that may be covertly supporting and financing terrorism worldwide.
He said the route would take individuals through Latin and South America and then onto the European continent, where the network that is linked to transnational organised crime takes up the responsibility of moving the individuals at a cost.
Heerah said the movement can be over road, via air and also sea and can very well take the form of the assumption of new identities and the issuance of new passports.
He said this form of movement is called “staggering” and was prevalent in the return journeys also to the foreign fighters’ homelands.
He said the Turkish authorities knew whom they should be on the lookout for.
Earlier this month, the Turkish Interior Ministry issued a list of almost 10,000 people with suspected ties to the militant group that have been banned from entering the country.
Heerah said the Turkish authorities were working much closer now with allies and counterparts in this global fight against terrorism.
He said the names came from foreign government watch lists and were confirmed by Turkey.
Heerah said there were multiple ways to enter Turkey, however, and many border posts lacked the equipment and personnel to monitor all incoming people effectively and accurately.
The method used
Heerah said Isis online recruiters will assist potential foreign fighters in planning the trip and connect them with people who will take them to a safe house, after which they will be driven to a border crossing and smuggled into Syria, where Isis fighters will be waiting to pick them up.
He said getting smuggled across the border can cost as little as TT$100 and was generally organised and paid for by Isis.
Heerah said on the other side of the border, recruits go through training and then, depending on their skills, are deployed to various cities under Isis control in Iraq and Syria.
He said getting to Syria was the easy part of this process, but first, the potential Isis recruit must get to Turkey undetected.
Heerah said the majority of itineraries often utilised pre-existing trade, migrant or tourist routes, where an aspiring Isis recruit could blend in with other travellers.
He said last month, an Isis supporter published a book on Scribd titled Hijrah to the Islamic State, a guide on how to make the journey, or hijrah, to the caliphate.
The author advised new recruits to “buy a two-way ticket to avoid further suspicion.”