The Federal Government has raised the alarm over the new strategy by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in recruiting members into the terror group.
It said the group has now resorted to targeting vulnerable individuals, including foreign students, using financial inducements to recruit them into its organisation.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, cited the recent recruitment into ISIS of 27 students of the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) in Sudan as an example of the new strategy being used by the organisation to recruit more members.
Mohammed while quoting a report received by the Nigerian intelligence community, said 22 of the 27 students, who travelled to Syria to join ISIS, were Britons.
‘‘According to the report, the students were recruited by one Mohammed
Fakhri Al-Khabbas, a former UMST student from Middlesborough, United Kingdom. Many of the students are children of reputable doctors in the
UK. Their social media accounts also revealed them as praising jihadists and championing ISIS’ cause,’’ he said.
The appealed to Nigerians, especially those who have children and wards in foreign academic institutions, to pay more attention to their activities, while urging schools across the country to enlighten their students on the new ISIS’ recruitment strategy.
