ROME // European authorities said on Thursday they had broken up a Norway-based Iraqi Kurdish recruitment ring that radicalised prospective militants via the internet and sent them to fight in Iraq and Syria alongside ISIL.
Thirteen people were arrested in Italy, Britain and Norway on Thursday as part of the operation, which Italian Carabinieri General Giuseppe Governale described as “the most important police operation in Europe in 20 years”.
Italian authorities said the ideological leader of the ring was Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, known as Mullah Krekar, who was already in prison in Norway. He had been a founder of the now-defunct Ansar Al Islam insurgent group of Sunni Kurds, which aimed to install a caliphate in Iraqi Kurdistan and merged with ISIL last year.
Once living in exile in Norway, Mullah Krekar formed another group, named Rawti Shax, with the intention of radicalising a new generation of Iraqi Kurds in Europe. He wanted this generation to eventually return to the Iraqi Kurdish region to violently overthrow the government and replace it with a radical caliphate, Italian police said.
Mullah Krekar developed a network of followers across Europe who communicatedvia internet chats, which Italian police monitored, leading to Thursday’s arrests. Eurojust, the European Union judicial cooperation agency, said 13 people were arrested in Italy, Britain and Norway.
Italian authorities said arrest warrants were issued against 17 people, but at least one of them was killed in Iraq in 2014. The discrepancy couldn’t be immediately explained.
The suspects are accused of international terrorism association.
The emergence of ISIL provided Rawti Shax with a training ground, and at least six people were recruited to fight in Iraq and Syria, said Italian officials. At least two died in the region.
Police said Rawti Shax created a virtual university online to radicalise potential recruits. Meanwhile, a secret committee discussed attacks against Norwegian diplomats and lawmakers to negotiate Mullah Krekar’s freedom. Gen Governale, however, said the group’s primary activity was recruitment.
Mullah Krekar was sentenced last month to 18 months in jail in Norway for praising the slaying of cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which had lampooned Islam and other religions. He was also found guilty of urging others to kill a Kurdish immigrant in Norway.
The Norwegian suspects face a court hearing on Friday in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, pending possible deportation to Italy, said a spokeswoman for Norway’s security service PST, Siv Alsen.
Earlier this year, Mullah Krekar was freed after nearly three years’ imprisonment for making death threats. The 59-year-old Kurd, who came to Norway as a refugee in 1991, was convicted in 2005 for a similar offence. Norway and the United States have accused him of financing Ansar Al Islam.
“If this means that Krekar leaves Norway, that’s fine,” said Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg, speaking from Valetta, Malta, where she was taking part in an European Union summit on the refugee crisis.
* Associated Press
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
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