Auckland knifeman was war refugee
AN ISLAMIC State supporter who stabbed and wounded seven people in a supermarket rampage in New Zealand was a refugee who had been granted sanctuary after he fled the civil war in Sri Lanka.
Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen was shot dead by police after he began slashing customers at a supermarket in West Auckland on Friday afternoon. The victims were aged between 29 and 77. Three remain in critical condition.
According to the New Zealand Herald newspaper, local immigration officials had tried to revoke Samsudeen’s refugee status, but he had lodged an appeal and was awaiting a final decision.
Despite being monitored round the clock by undercover police, the 32-year-old was able to grab a large knife from a display at the store before launching his 90-second rampage until police shot him dead.
Samsudeen was from the Tamil ethnic group that was persecuted by the Sri Lankan authorities during a decades-long conflict. He fled to New Zealand in October 2011 and was granted refugee status two years later.
He was placed on the terror watchlist in 2016 after he shared videos online pledging his support for the Islamic State (IS). Despite an official warning, Samsudeen continued to post extremist material.
He reportedly told a worshipper at a mosque that he hoped to join IS in Syria and he was detained at Auckland International Airport in 2017. He spent a year in custody before pleading guilty to distributing restricted material.
The day after he was released from prison in 2018, Samsudeen was arrested by counter-terrorism police after he purchased a hunting knife.