Terrorist with criminal records… A weapon used by terrorist organizations for more terrifying

Ali Bakr

The comprehensive military operation Sinai 2018, which is aimed at eradicating terror hotbeds in Egypt, has revealed that terrorist organizations recruit convicted criminals to benefit from their experiences in terrorism. The army and police forces detained many ex-cons in the operation, raising a number of questions about the dimensions of recruiting criminal elements by the terrorist groups.

How would such recruitment impact the terrorist activities in the wake of declining intellectual standard as a factor for luring the youth to join the terrorist groups?

Excessive cruelty shown by several terrorist groups, especially Daesh — of which many members come from European countries, where human rights are well established — points to a key feature of their characters.  It is the criminal background. Some of them have criminal records, i.e. dealing in drugs, burglary or other crimes.

Examples of terrorists with criminal background

The Paris attacks in November 2015 are a clear evidence of the role played by criminals elements in terrorist groups. For instance, Salah Abdeslam, who was detained in March 2016, ran an unlicensed café. He was jailed in Belgium in 2010 on charges of burglary and dealing in drugs.

His childhood friend, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was the mastermind of the Paris attack, served as liaison between the organization and its members in Europe.

Other participants in the attack had criminal records. Khaled Bakrawi, one of the participants, was jailed for five years on charges of burglary and use of force. Ibrahim Abdeslam, Salah’s elder brother, was jailed for 3 months in Belgium for burglary.  Omar Mustafawi had a long criminal record.

The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung unveiled on September 2, 2015, excerpts from a study complied by the domestic security agency Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) and the Hesse Information and Competence Center against Extremism (HKE).

The study said that half of the 670 jihadists who went to Syria were jailed on charges of violence and dealing in drugs.

Repercussions

Ex-cons are characterized by excessive violence, which is directly reflected in the activities and of the terrorist groups. The recruitment of ex-cons result in a number of repercussions as follows:

Excessive cruelty

The terrorists with criminal records are characterized by excessive cruelty as they led a ‘jungle life’ in prison, where the strong eats the weak.

As they embrace faith and religiousness, they consider cruelty to serve jihad, as they claim. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is serves as a good example. He introduced decapitation and slaughter.

In his youth, Zarqawi was jailed on charges of stabbing a man, burglary and dealing in drugs.

Daring and boldness

The terrorists with criminal backgrounds boast great daring and boldness, driving takfiri groups to recruit them for unconventional terrorist operations such as driving a lorry through a crowd in Nice by Mohamed Bouhlel, killing 84 in July 2016. He was convicted five times. One of his felonies was armed violence.

Chérif Kouachi, who carried out the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, was jailed for armed robbery. Amedy Coulibaly, who participated in the attack on Charlie Hebdo, was also sentenced for 6 years on charges of armed robbery in 2002.

Overkilling

Criminals tend to kill in a horrific way as they have experience in this regard. British national Aine Davis, a Daesh member who is known for decapitation, was jailed in London for dealing in drugs.

Organizational skill

The terrorists with criminal records are characterized by a high sense of organizational skill thanks to their experience in dealing with security forces. That makes them qualified for operations which require good planning, accuracy and speed.

Excessive extremism

The terrorists with criminal records are more extremist than any other takfiris because many of them embraced these ideas inside prisons, where psychological changes are imbalanced. The individual would want to atone for his sins.

That explains how a top Daesh leader like Salem bin Ghanem, who a well-known French ex-con before joining ISIS.

Conclusion

As abovementioned a terrorist with a criminal background is more violent than other ordinary members of the terrorist groups.

The criminal hotbeds in prisons have brought up extraordinary examples of terrorists. This explains why terrorist groups are keen on recruiting criminals. Therefore, a clear-cut strategy should be laid out to combat recruitment of criminals as prisons have become a human resource for terrorist groups.

Segregation is a must

There should be a strategy for the segregation between takfiris and criminals in prisons, where recruitment mostly take place.

Criminals should also have access to reading as libraries inside prisons develop intellectual skills and increase awareness. Cultural seminars at prisons will also enrich the intellectual skills of criminals.

Moreover, the activation of official religious authorities will create some immunity against extremist and takfiri ideas.