Sri Lanka
2024 saw some Islamic State (IS)-linked activities in Sri Lanka, years on from the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings that targeted several hotels and religious landmarks. The May arrests of Sri Lankan nationals in Colombo and neighbouring India for plotting a fresh wave of IS attacks revealed some individuals had a criminal history in drug peddling. Overall, Sri Lanka is potentially grappling with a low-grade but varied threat picture, amid a nexus between would-be terrorists and transnational criminal gangs in the drug trade.
Trends
Re-emergence of Islamic State Cells
After a lull of five years, security forces in Sri Lanka and India arrested several individuals for terrorism-related offences in May 2024. On May 19, four Sri Lankan nationals were detained after arriving at India’s Gujarat state’s Ahmedabad airport.[1] Local police linked them to the Islamic State (IS), adding the quartet had intended to conduct terror attacks in India. The IS-linked cell was previously associated with the Sri Lankan extremist group, the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ).[2]
The NTJ was the outfit responsible for the devastating 2019 Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka’s capital of Colombo, which saw over 270 people killed in a series of suicide bomb blasts.[3] The Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad in Ahmedabad said it had discovered several loaded pistols among the Sri Lankan suspects’ belongings. According to reports, the quartet had travelled from Colombo via Chennai, India, and on to Ahmedabad on an Indigo Airlines flight. Analysis of their seized mobile phones uncovered incriminating photos and videos, apparently confirming links to IS.[4]
Several pistols and a black IS flag inscribed with the initials “Mohammed is the Messenger of God and there is no god but Allah” were also among the discovered items at an undisclosed location near Ahmedabad. After being charged under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Penal Code as well as the Arms Act, details of the Sri Lankan IS cell were released. Members of the cell included Mohammad Nusrat, a Colombo-based businessman involved in the import of telecommunications and electronics.
A second individual, Mohammad Nirfan, 27, was identified as the son of a notorious drug lord in Colombo.[5] The latter had previously been sentenced to death for the killing of a High Court judge. A third person, Mohammad Faris, 35, worked as a porter. Faris had previously been arrested on two separate occasions in March and November 2023 in Sri Lanka for drug trafficking. The last individual, Mohammad Rashdeen, a driver, was also suspected by police sources of trafficking crystal meth and ice in Sri Lanka. He had been arrested in September 2022 in Sri Lanka and was later released on bail. The latter two arrests suggest a possible nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism activities in Sri Lanka.
In a related development, Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said it had arrested Pushparaja Osman, 46, the suspected local handler of the IS-linked cell detained in India.[6] Police had earlier issued a wanted notice and a video of Pushparaja and offered a Rs 2 million cash reward for credible information on his whereabouts.[7] Investigations revealed Osman had made telephone contact with the four individuals prior to their arrests In India.
In addition to communicating with Osman,[8] the Sri Lankan IS cell had reportedly also received instructions from a Pakistani handler, who went by the moniker “Abu Pakistani”. Abu Pakistani was allegedly affiliated with the Islamic State of Khorasan (ISK) and reportedly first made contact with them in February 2024.[9] He subsequently radicalised and recruited the Sri Lankan nationals into ISK. According to reports, they planned to carry out a series of attacks around India, allegedly on Abu Pakistani’s instructions.[10]
With a global membership base and ambitions, ISK has increasingly posed a threat to several countries in the West as well as the Central and South Asian regions.[11] While most ISK-linked attacks since 2015 have focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the group has also more recently conducted attacks in Moscow, Iran and Turkey. The May 2024 terror plots in India point to a further expansion of ISK’s transnational capabilities.[12]
Notably, ISK’s English-language magazine, the Voice of Khorasan, in a recent edition praised and valourised Zahran Hashim, a former NTJ leader and the mastermind of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka.[13] In the aftermath of these attacks, investigations also revealed links between the perpetrators and IS-linked terror entities in India. Zahran, for example, was known to have been in communication with several IS-linked individuals, particularly in India’s southern states.
Drug Trafficking and the Crime-Terror Nexus
The revelation that some of the Sri Lankan IS operatives arrested in India had previous criminal records related to drug trafficking, warrants closer scrutiny by security agencies. According to a global International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) study, many jihadist attacks, including in regions such as Europe and Africa, had some overlap with organised crime. Often, terrorist groups seek to obtain arms from the black market or use the proceeds from criminal activities, including drug trafficking, to finance their activities.[14] Many attackers were also observed to have had criminal pasts.
Sri Lanka has for years been a transit hub for drug trafficking due to its location along maritime lanes in the Indian Ocean. Among others, drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine are often sourced from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar.[15] Security officials also say cannabis trafficking is frequently observed in the international waters off India’s Tamil Nadu state, which neighbours Sri Lanka’s northern province.[16]
Amid worsening crime rates and public complaints of increasing consumption of drugs among youth in recent years, the Sri Lankan government in December 2023 launched a four-month-long island-wide crackdown that saw over 50,000 arrests and drug seizures worth over US$20 million.[17] The anti-drug bust appears to have curtailed the issue, much like anti-narcotics and crime operations of the past launched by previous governments. However, in most instances, these operations have only resulted in short-term drops in crime rates.
Responses
The police say it remains unclear if IS’ ideology has significantly spread in Sri Lanka, following the appointment of a special task force in late May to investigate the group’s activities in the country. Nonetheless, the authorities should still take proactive steps to curtail any potential terrorist-related activities, given the devastating impact another attack on the scale of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings could have in Sri Lanka. This is especially as large swathes of the population continue to reel from the country’s significant social and economic challenges in the post-pandemic era.
There have been calls in some quarters for the establishment of more effective rehabilitation and community engagement programmes in Sri Lanka. According to security sources, several individuals linked to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings remain in custody and have not been rehabilitated.[18] Immediately following their detention, observers say many were assessed to determine their radicalisation levels. They were also exposed to materials promoting moderation, tolerance and peaceful interfaith community harmony.[19]
However, additional plans to introduce learning modules to encourage critical thinking and religious knowledge failed to get off the ground.[20] Other such proposals included mandating certifications for local and foreign clerics, banning overseas preachers who advocate hate speech, and promoting curricula in religious schools around the country that encourage moderation and peaceful coexistence between various communities in society.[21]
Observers have pinned the impasse partly on local authorities and some Muslim leaders who apparently have placed personal and political interests above forging a consensus on a national security agenda.[22] The risk of inaction is reflected in the 2024 arrests of the four IS-linked Sri Lankan nationals in India, for whom appropriate monitoring and intervention measures were lacking. This is despite the quartet having been identified as security risks in a Presidential Commission Report released after the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, which also recommended they be put through a deradicalisation programme.
Policy Recommendations
A failure to initiate effective prison deradicalisation and other countering violent extremism (CVE) measures could give space for a resurgent IS threat in Sri Lanka. More resources are required to maintain and enhance the capabilities of the various military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent and pre-empt terror-related activities. Given the transnational nature of the jihadist threat, the Sri Lankan government also needs to collaborate and forge partnerships with countries in the region and beyond to build common databases and share expertise, experiences and resources.
Additionally, successive Sri Lankan administrations have for decades implemented a number of measures to curtail drug abuse and trafficking. Programmes for drug prevention and rehabilitation have also been rolled out. Yet, challenges persist to address the key drivers of drug abuse and dismantle sophisticated trafficking networks.[23] For more effective outcomes, more targeted public awareness campaigns are required to highlight the ill effects of drug usage, including health issues, breakdown of societal structures and economic downturns.[24] Given the emerging signs of a link between radicalisation and drug crime, the domestic anti-drugs programmes do require more sustained resources and attention from the authorities and community.
About the Author
Amresh Gunasingham is an Associate Editor/Coordinator (Research Contracts) at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He can be reached at [email protected].
Citations
[1] “Indian Police Arrest 4 Sri Lankans for Suspected IS Links,” The Straits Times, May 20, 2024, https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/indian-police-arrest-4-sri-lankans-for-suspected-islamic-state-links.
[2] Devesh Kumar, “Four ISIS Terrorists, All Sri Lankan Nationals, Arrested at Ahmedabad Airport,” Mint, May 20, 2024, https://www.livemint.com/news/india/four-isis-terrorists-from-sri-lanka-arrested-at-ahmedabad-airport-gujarat-ats-11716198185105.html.
[3] Jack Seale, “Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings Review – Startling and Deeply Disturbing Viewing,” The Guardian, September 6, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/sep/06/sri-lankas-easter-bombings-review-startling-and-deeply-disturbing-viewing.
[4] Ojjaswini Gupta, “4 Sri Lankan Nationals With Alleged ISIS Links Arrested in India,” JURISTnews, May 21, 2024, https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/05/4-sri-lankan-nationals-with-alleged-isis-links-arrested-in-india/. The video reportedly showed four men standing in front of a black flag with an inscription in Arabic. They are seen making bai’ah in Arabic and Tamil to IS and to former IS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. They also commit to targeting Jews, Christians and members of the ruling BJP party in India, whom they allege have committed atrocities against Muslims worldwide.
[5] “India Will Deal With the 4 IS Suspects Arrested in Gujarat, Says Sri Lankan govt,“ The Economic Times, May 27, 2024, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/india-will-deal-with-the-4-isis-suspects-arrested-in-gujarat-says-sri-lankan-govt/articleshow/110464815.cms?from=mdr.
[6] “Sri Lanka Arrests Alleged Handler of Islamic State Suspects Held in India,” The Hindu, June 2, 2024, https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lanka-police-arrests-wanted-handler-of-4-isis-suspects-detained-in-india/article68240045.ece.
[7] “Two More Arrested in Sri Lanka for Suspected ISIS Links,” Deccan Herald, May 29, 2024, https://www.deccanherald.com/world/two-more-arrested-in-sri-lanka-for-suspected-isis-links-3043299.
[8] Records revealed the suspects had travelled extensively to India in the years prior.
[9] “The Islamic State Sri Lanka Branch Revives,” Ceylon Today, May 22, 2024, https://ceylontoday.lk/2024/05/22/the-islamic-state-sri-lanka-branch-revives/.
[10] The latter had paid the Sri Lankan suspects Rs 400,000 and made the arrangements for the weapons and ammunition to be used in the planned terror attacks. They were to retrieve the weapons and await further instructions, before being pre-empted by the Indian authorities.
[11] Tricia Bacon, “The Islamic State in Khorasan Province: Exploiting a Counterterrorism Gap,” Center for Strategic & International Studies, April 11, 2024, https://www.csis.org/analysis/islamic-state-khorasan-province-exploiting-counterterrorism-gap.
[12] Ibid. ISK is increasingly a global threat and has been culpable for multiple plots in Europe. It also harbours ambitions to strike in the United States as well as other global powers such as China and Russia.
[13] Ceylon Today, “The Islamic State Sri Lanka Branch Revives.”
[14] “The Crime Terror Nexus,” International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, 2024, https://icsr.info/our-work/the-crime-terror-nexus/.
[15] Rathindra Kuruwita, “Are Sri Lanka’s Anti-Drug Crime Operations Working?” The Diplomat, February 26, 2024, https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/are-sri-lankas-anti-drug-crime-operations-working/.
[16] Pramod Madhav, “Drugs Worth Rs 71 Crore Bound for Sri Lanka Seized in Tamil Nadu,” India Today, March 11, 2024, https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/drugs-worth-rs-71-crore-bound-for-sri-lanka-seized-in-tamil-nadu-2513178-2024-03-11.
[17] Uditha Jayasinghe, “Sri Lanka to Continue Drugs Crackdown Despite Rights Group Concerns – Minister,” Reuters, January 18, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sri-lanka-continue-drug-crackdown-despite-rights-group-concerns-minister-2024-01-18/.
[18] Interview with a security source.
[19] Rohan Gunaratna, Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Attack Massacre: Lessons for the International Community (Singapore: Penguin Random House SEA, 2023).
[20] Ibid.
[21] P.K. Balachandran, “De-Radicalization Program Needed To Fight Islamic Terrorism, Says New Book on Sri Lanka Bombings – Book Review,” Eurasia Review, July 24, 2023, https://www.eurasiareview.com/24072023-de-radicalization-program-needed-to-fight-islamic-terrorism-says-new-book-on-sri-lanka-bombings-book-review/.
[22] Interview with a security source.
[23] Amresh Gunasingham, “Sri Lanka Cracks Down on Drugs in the Name of Justice,” East Asia Forum, May 4, 2024, https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/05/04/sri-lanka-cracks-down-on-drugs-in-the-name-of-justice/.
[24] Ibid.
