ISIS fighters from Trinidad remain deep-seated threat- T&T PM

Jul 05, 2016 News

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley

With reports of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago leaving the twin-island to travel to Syria and join terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS), the Republic’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, is providing assurances that the security of not only his nation but the entire region is paramount on his government’s agenda.
Rowley, who is attending the Thirty Seventh Regular meeting of the conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community being held in Guyana, was responding to queries about the current situation.
“It’s an undesirable that we are living with,” Rowley said, in a brief response. “(But) we are committed to National and Regional security. And we share information with our international partners to make sure that we can be aware and respond.”
Rowley noted that it remained a very serious threat. One thing that the Prime Minister stated was being done was to educate citizenry on the group, and highlight that it was not an option.
“It remains a deep seated threat that we are very concerned about,” the Prime Minister said. “And we are so hoping to educate our nationals that that option has not become an option of choice for any of our citizens.”
General John Kelly, a top United States General, had expressed concern about the number of Islamic extremists who were leaving the Caribbean to join fighters in the Middle East. He had also been concerned about radicalization at home in the

ISIS fighters said to have been from Trinidad and Tobago, pictured in Syria in 2015. Photo credit Daily Express Trinidad

Caribbean.
A Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet, had reported last year that four Trinidad and Tobago nationals had been fighting for ISIS when they were captured by Turkish security forces.
Trinidad’s Minister of National Security, Gary Griffith, when asked about Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF’s) had stated, that measures must be taken to ensure that persons labeled as FTF’s are debarred from returning to the country.
The fact that ISIS fighters are travelling from the region and possibly returning would, however, be a regional security concern. Guyana’s own experience with terrorists has been negligible.
Back in 2014 Adnan Shukrijumah, a high level al-Qaeda operative with Guyanese links, was killed during a raid in Pakistan’s tribal region.
The FBI had been searching for Shukrijumah since 2003. He was thought to be the only al-Qaeda leader to have once held permanent U.S. resident status, or a green card.
Shukrijumah’s father, who died in 2004, was born in Guyana, thus, his son’s eligibility for citizenship here.
Shukrijumah was named earlier in 2010 in a federal indictment as a conspirator in the case against three men accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks on New York’s subway system in 2009.

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