Two youths lured by Daesh renounce extremist tendencies

Daesh man lured the two into joining group through twitter;human traffickers took them to Iran

KARACHI: Two youngsters from Karachi who were destined to join Daesh before their arrest by the Iranian authorities on the Syria-Iran border have renounced extremist tendencies following their psychological counseling by doctors, their families and security agencies, an official said.

During a press briefing here, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Karachi, in charge Raja Umar Khattab claimed, quoting psychiatrists, that both the youngsters, whose identity was kept secret, no longer possessed extremist tendencies to join terrorist and militant groups.

He however said their activities would be kept under constant watch. The two youngsters, in their 20s, hailing from the upper middle class were handed over to the Pakistani authorities by Iran.

The FIA police took them into custody in Quetta and handed them over to the CTD Karachi.

According to Umar Khattab, the two young men told investigators that they had endured tremendous hardships for over a month before reaching the Syria border where they were arrested by Iranian border forces.

They told investigators that given the hardships they endured they will never think of joining Daesh or any other militant group.

Khattab said both the rehabilitated young men had no Jihadi background until they contacted Abu Khalid alias Abu Aqba via twitter who lured them to join them.

Daesh arranged a meeting with them in Karachi through local interlocutors and asked them to reach the Turkish-Syrian border to join them, the official said.

They paid Rs260,000 to human traffickers to take them to Iran. They were transported to Iran along with 25 other persons.  They kept on travelling for over one month but could not reach the Turkish border and were nabbed by the Iranian authorities.

“As the two did not have any jihadi background, they were treated by psychiatrists with the help of their families and now they have been released after rehabilitation,” the police officer said.