ISIS luring foreign students with money, FG warns

The federal government has said the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) now recruits foreign students into their organisation using financial inducements.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, raised alarm over the new recruitment strategy.

He urged parents and guardians to monitor the activities of their children and wards in order to prevent them from being recruited.

The minister appealed to Nigerians, especially those who have children and wards in foreign academic institutions, to pay more attention to their activities.

He also urged schools across the country to enlighten their students on the new ISIS’ recruitment strategy.

The minister cited the recent recruitment into ISIS of 27 medical 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.

Quoting a report received by the Nigerian intelligence community, the minister said 22 of the 27 students, who travelled to Syria to join ISIS, are 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.