Terror travel probes on the rise: RCMP
Radicalized Canadians intent on going to far-off combat zones are developing sophisticated cover stories and using “broken travel patterns” to disguise their true motivations, according to an internal RCMP document that reveals public safety officials were, as of one year ago, closely monitoring about 50 foreign fighters abroad and 14 who had returned home.
Family and friends are often reluctant to notify police if they suspect someone is planning a trip, the document states.
Also, the speed with which a person becomes radicalized to violence and makes travel plans is sometimes so fast, police only become aware of them after they’ve left the country.
“There is no doubt that the number and complexity of terrorist travel investigations has increased,” said the briefing document, which was prepared for the RCMP commissioner and obtained by the National Post through an access-to-information request.
Though the document was prepared a year ago, many of the challenges of identifying extremist travellers persist, said a Dalhousie University researcher studying Canadian
It’s not so much that parents are reluctant to report their kids, which is certainly true, but that the parents themselves are often in the dark.
foreign fighters.
Amarnath Amarasingam said much of ISIL’s advice to people who want to migrate to Syria is to “blend in to western ways of life,” especially right before they leave.
“A lot of the families I have interviewed will say that their kids started dressing more ‘Western’ a few months before they left. So, parents thought that whatever ‘radical’ phase they were going through had passed, and they had nothing more to worry about,” he said via email.
“So, it’s not so much that parents are reluctant to report their kids, which is certainly true, but that the parents themselves are often in the dark about what their children are planning.”
The wave of attacks in Paris last Friday that killed 129 people has heightened concerns about the foreign-fighter phenomenon.
A new report this week from the think-tank Institute for Economics and Peace said an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 foreign fighters from 100 countries have flowed into Iraq and Syria since 2011 — half from neighbouring countries and a quarter from Europe and Turkey.
Public safety officials in Ottawa said Wednesday there was no evidence of any Canadian involvement in the Paris attacks. They were also unaware of any direct threats to Canada related to the attacks.
Compared to Europe, the number of foreign fighters originating from Canada is relatively small.
Amarasingam said he believes at least 60 Canadians have gone to fight in Iraq and Syria. One of them, Toronto-born Farah Mohamed Shirdon, who police say has served in combat, recruiting and propaganda roles with ISIL, was added to INTERPOL’s wanted list this week.
Neither Bob Paulson, the RCMP commissioner, nor Michel Coulombe, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, would say Wednesday how many high-risk travellers they are tracking.
The last time they publicly shared such numbers was in October 2014, while testifying before a parliamentary committee. At the time, Coulombe said roughly 130 to 145 Canadians had gone abroad to support terrorist-related activities in places like Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan.
An additional 80 had returned to Canada, Coulombe said, stressing that not all of them had necessarily returned as hardened fighters.
The briefing document obtained by the Post shows the RCMP at the time was “actively monitoring ” 14 of those returnees, some of whom had expressed a desire to leave again or who had, in fact, left already.
Further, the RCMP had asked the Canada Border Services Agency to place “lookouts” on 50 additional high-risk travellers who were abroad, so that in the event they returned to Canada, border officers would know to pull them aside for further questioning.
Amarasingam said the number of suspected foreign fighters leaving Canada may have slowed a bit this year, due to law enforcement’s use of passport revocation and peace bonds, which restrict people’s movements.
The RCMP briefing document noted that investigators have access to a number of other tools for use in “exceptional circumstances,” including summoning a person who is believed to have information about terrorist activities to an investigative hearing to answer questions and detaining an individual on the grounds it is necessary to prevent terrorist activity from being carried out.
But such measures have “farreaching impacts on individuals,” the document said. To date, the RCMP has not used them.
“If we see an attack, we will see more tools — that is almost a certainty,” said Phil Gurski, a former CSIS intelligence analyst.
That said, ongoing outreach by public safety officials in communities across the country to raise awareness of the signs of radicalization appears to be making a difference, Gurski said.
“Families are getting better at recognizing signs and are less reluctant to call in their concerns,” he said.