A List Of ISIS Fighters Has Been Captured, Now For The Terrorists

A list of thousands of names of suspected ISIS fighters has been obtained by German and British media, comprising what some are calling a “law enforcement gold mine.” Officials are hopeful this will lead to the apprehension and prosecution of more ISIS terrorists and their sympathizers.

A Fantastic Coup

BBC reports the list of 22,000 names and documents of ISIS recruits from approximately 40 countries, including the United States, has been obtained by German media outlets and British broadcaster, Sky News. The list was also previously published online by a Syrian-based website (in Arabic). The documents are rich with information. Richard Barrett, the former global terrorism operations director at MI6, told Sky News this information is a “fantastic coup.”

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The documents include information such as real names, pseudonyms, previous addresses, family contacts, and other personal information of people who traveled to Syria specifically to join ISIS. In addition to that information, there are files that show former skills and future job position desires of the recruits, such as wanting to be a “fighter” or “suicide bomber.” SkyNews also reported that some of the documents show the potential ISIS fighters also had to answer a 23-question form, in which they share a plethora of useful information, in order to be “inducted” into ISIS.

Although there are still some skeptics, the information is widely believed at this point to be real, and it is being studied by counter-terrorism officials in Germany. Although some German officials are not sharing how they obtained this list, the media outlets reported they had acquired copies of the list from an informant who had become disillusioned with the ISIS leadership. Sky News says it received the information on a memory stick by the informant, who goes by the name Abu Hamed, who stole it from the head of the ISIS internal security force.

What This Means

ISIS, ISIL, IS, Islamic State, Daesh, no matter how they are referenced, the fact is that they are an extremist terrorist group that has created, and continues to create, death and destruction wherever they go. The evil they practice is only fueled by their lack of empathy, sympathy, or respect (psychopathy?) toward other living beings, and the millions of dollars they get from their multiple funnels of income, including black market sales of oil, drugs, imposing taxes, and hundreds of internet cafes. In the continuing fight against ISIS, just this week one of their oil pipelines in Eastern Syria was partly blown up by U.S. Naval forces, as ABC News’ Martha Raddatz reported from the USS Harry S. Truman.

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Hate them or despise them, ISIS admittedly has a wicked grasp on social media and know how to leverage it in relation to money-making and recruiting opportunities. The acquisition of this list is a huge feather in the cap of law enforcement entities. It identifies individuals who knowingly traveled to Syria to join ISIS and opens up the opportunity to catch them when they return to their home country, and to be able to prosecute them.

Per BBC, Thomas de Maiziere, Germany’s Interior Minister, pointed out another way the information on the list can help authorities.

“We can also improve our understanding of the structures of this terror organisation,” which will assist in the continued fight to dismantle it. In relation to German citizens already facing trials related to terrorist activities with ISIS, Maiziere hopes these documents will provide more evidence against them, says the New York Times.

Sky News says it has obtained 22000 ISIS files on the border with Turkey and Syria – CBC.ca https://t.co/uN1fgeExzF

— ISIS/IL Fight News (@ISISILFightNews) March 10, 2016

About the magnitude of information obtained, Afzal Ashraf, a counter-terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute, told Sky News that this is “…probably the most significant intelligence we’ve had to date of Da’esh (IS).

“It will give them an indication of not just who they are, where they come from, but will be able to potentially lead them to the individuals who radicalised these individuals as well as facilitated their departure.”

Many minds in many countries will be working on delving into the obtained information for months to come. This list of information on ISIS fighters is a major asset in the war against terrorism; against this group in particular.

[Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]