Sharjah Police warning over students being targeted by extremist groups

More students are being reported missing in the emirate, with police 'well aware of their destination', an officer tells school principals and social workers in a lecture.

DUBAI // Vulnerable young men are being targeted by extremists recruiting fighters for ISIL, a senior police officer warned on Tuesday.

Some had already been reported missing by their families, said Lt Col Omar Al Zood of Sharjah Police’s preventive security department.

He said police were “aware of the destination of some of these students” but they were unable to stop them from travelling because they had not committed a criminal offence.

Lt Col Al Zood said police had intercepted a letter to ISIL from a man being treated for drug addiction at a rehabilitation centre. He wanted to send it to the group via his brother.

“He was seeking to join ISIL … but his family said he was not serious and was merely seeking revenge on them because they had forced him into rehab.”

In another case, Lt Col Al Zood said, a man in prison for fraud had claimed to be a member of ISIL and painted the group’s flag on the wall of his cell.

In a lecture to school principals and social workers, he said preventive measures to protect young people need to be adopted and reinforced by families, schools and universities.

School staff and families must be aware of the dangers and protect young people through greater awareness.

“We depend on the educational institutions to find out any extreme ideology adopted by any student so we can intervene at an early stage,” he said.

Thousands of young men and women from other countries are already known to have travelled to join ISIL in Syria and Iraq, a serious cause for concern among western governments.

There are about 3,000 Europeans in Syria fighting for ISIL, according to Europe’s anti-terror chief Gilles de Kerchove.

Three British teenage girls went to Syria via Turkey to join ISIL last month, and last week three young men from the UK were stopped in Istanbul and sent back to London on suspicion of planning terror attacks.

ISIL uses social media to spread its message, tapping into the platforms where it knows impressionable and vulnerable young people can be found.

When its accounts are shut down, the group adapts quickly and finds new outlets.

“There is a danger of targeting and recruiting through social media,” Lt Col Al Zood said. “Security challenges are becoming more intense, and the methods used by extremists to lure our youth more diverse.”