IS attempts to swell its ranks, offers criminals redemption

In what it called a “dangerous new crime-terror nexus”, The Telegraph has reported that more than half of European jihadis have criminal histories as IS offers ‘redemption’. A poster with an image of a masked fighter wielding a Kalashnikov shared on Facebook by Rayat al—Tawheed, a group of British IS fighters from London calling themselves the “Banner of God” had the slogan: “Sometimes people with the worst pasts create the best futures.”

“Their target is young men looking for redemption from crime, drugs or gangs, willing to save their souls by waging jihad for the socalled Islamic State,” the report said. It cited a new research to show that “for all of its professed piousness”, majority of recruits of the terror group have criminal histories - an unprecedented figure for former Islamist movements emphasising purity and scholarly knowledge. A report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) shows that criminal and terrorist networks across Europe are merging to create a dangerous brand of jihadis for whom violence is not just a holy pursuit, but a way of life, it said. Professor Peter Neumann, director of the ICSR at King’s College London, said that the new “crime- terror nexus” was making radicalisation harder to spot for European security services. Several European fighters continue to smoke, drink and even take drugs up until their departure for the IS,’’ Neumann said.