Regional Workshop on Effective Responses to the

Phenomenon of
Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) in Southeast Asia
23-25 June 2015, Bangkok, Thailand
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Case Scenario
Caveat
The case below presents a fictional scenario involving foreign terrorist
fighters. Although hypothetical, some of the elements therein were
taken from actual cases reported in open sources.
This exercise is not aimed at conducting any sort of evaluation but,
rather, at producing a candid, participatory assessment of existing
good practices and challenges countries may face in addressing the
threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters. Your insights can help
improve the overall response to the problem.
Please discuss the scenario and provide answers to the best of your
knowledge based on your personal expertise and experience, national
legislation and your countrys law enforcement and judicial systems
capabilities and practices.

Aidan, an unemployed man aged 22, becomes self-radicalized

through various sources of extremist propaganda posted on the internet.
He starts persuading his younger brother Bo and his brothers friend Carl,
both aged 17, to travel with him to Syria to join Daesh. They have the
obligation, Aidan declares, to do jihad and free other Muslim brothers
from humiliation and oppression. To support his arguments Aidan holds
regular conversations and on line chats with Bo and Carl and shares
with them hyperlinks to various extremist websites, some featuring videos
showing the dead bodies of people -many of them women and childrenallegedly killed by government forces in Syria. Whereas no future awaits
them in their own country, Aidan claims, their support is much needed in
the rising Caliphate.
Shortly after the three man agree to travel to Syria, Aidan
approaches Dan, a respected local cleric, to seek for his spiritual and
logistical support. In addition to his religious activities, Dan runs a nonprofit organization purportedly aimed at promoting a culture of peace and
dialogue amongst the youth. When informed about the groups intentions,
initially Dan tries to persuade Aidan against his reckless project, but

Aidan is determined to travel. At one point Dan declares that while there
is nothing that he himself can do to help, he knows someone who might.
A few weeks later Aidan is contacted by a man who identifies himself as
Commander M. M is one of the founding members of a national
extremist group which had publically pledged allegiance to ISIS. He is in a
list of wanted persons for his alleged participation in a terrorist attack
committed in a neighboring country seven years ago.
After a series of interviews and meetings with the three young man
M informs them that his group will facilitate their travel to Syria. They
will be provided with new original passport documents under a different
identity, round trip air-tickets to country X and a small amount of cash for
incidentals. Once in country X they will be contacted by a guy name
Sam, who will provide them with accommodation, arrange basic military
training for the group and later on coordinate their deployment to a base
camp nearby the Turkish border. M indicates that they will have to travel
separately to avoid raising suspicions, Aidan departing the first.
Everything is arranged, instructions and alibis are provided. The day
for As trip comes and he leaves the country without problems. The
following day, however, the security official at the airports check-point
notices that Bo seems particularly nervous -he is sweating profusely and
avoiding eye contact- and, his curiosity awakened, decides to take a
second, closer look at his passport.
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