Although economy of Maldives, a country in South Asia is almost totally dependent on tourism industry, recent anti-India insanity of the country may cause severe damage as onwards Malé would be known to the potential tourists throughout the world as a notoriously haven of radical Islamists or even worse – an Islamic State (ISIS) or hotspot of jihadists. If anyone will do a bit of research on Maldivians track record of addiction towards radical Islam and jihadism, they will certainly flag Maldives as a ‘NO GO’ country for any tourists – particularly non-Muslims, as it may pose a serious threat to their lives.
According to the US Department of State, during 2014 to 2018, more Maldivians left the country to join Islamic State than any other country in the world. In total, this figure stood at 250 men and women from a country of only 500,000. Although the majority of these Maldivian ISIS terrorists died, the surviving women and children were detained in the Al Hoi and Roj camps in Syria. Most alarming fact here is – whole most of the Western nations were unwilling to let their citizen who had joined ISIS return – government in Maldives had openly showed firm determination in letting the Maldivian ISIS jihadist return from, without giving further details of how these cruel jihadists would be reintegrated in the society and what would be consequence of their return. Maldivian authorities did not focus on a vital issue – what would happen if on their return these ISIS members start radicalizing locals and encourage them in joining jihadist activities and even become lone wolves and cause harm to non-Muslims by branding them “enemies of Islam” or Kafir?
The Maldives authorities, as part of its firm willingness to bring ISIS brides and children home, established a National Reintegration Centre on Himmafushi Island, 17 kilometers north of the capital of Malé. The Maldives Ministry of Home Affairs and the Maldives Police Service oversee this facility with the aid of international experts. But in this case too, there has never been any surveillance on how these ISIS brides succeeded in influencing others in becoming fans and even members of the notorious and cruel jihadist outfit. Due to such lack of surveillance, ISIS brides as well its members in Maldives began connecting local gangs as well radicalized Muslims and succeeded in encouraging them in getting affiliated to ISIS agenda, while such activities remained out of government’s radars. Meaning, currently there are uncounted numbers of pro-ISIS Maldivians in the society, many of whom are even employed in countries tourism, hospitality and other sectors. For any non-Muslim tourists, these secret ISIS operatives pose potential threats.
According to my own research, these secret ISIS regiments in Maldives commit crimes against non-Muslim tourists in multiple ways. Here are some of those nefarious acts:
- ISIS members or supporters in Maldives almost always spit on any food and drink they serve non-Muslim tourists,
- Maldivians sex workers carrying aids are sent to serve “non-Muslim” foreigners – with the goal of infecting the targets with HIV,
- Maldivian ISIS members working in hospitality industry secretly collect information of credit cards of foreigners and pass it on to ISIS cyberterrorists, which are later used for stealing significant amount of cash by hacking those accounts,
- Maldivians working in hospitals and diagnostic centers inject HIV virus into bodies of “non-Muslim” foreigners whenever these foreign tourists require medical treatment or medical diagnosis,
- Females affiliated to ISIS try to trap tourists with romance traps and attempt to get them converted to Islam and even lure them towards jihadist acts.
It may be mentioned here that Maldives is an upper middle-income country with a very negligible rate of extreme poverty, due to its booming tourism industry. In this case, Maldivians joining ISIS is not a result of poverty or financial issues. They join ISIS and other terrorist groups out of religious obligation. Maldives also attracts foreign workers mainly from South Asian countries, which currently is more than 250,000. A very large number of these foreign workers are radical Muslims with natural support for jihad and causing harm to non-Muslims. Many Maldivian men do not simply want a job – they want a job that distinguishes them above these foreign workers. As the Transparency Maldives report recounts, gangs would promise these young men status, but when they joined, they would instead be exploited as low-level drug peddlers and subsequently active members of ISIS or other terrorist groups.
Drug addiction is a serious problem existing within the young generation in Maldives. For jihadist groups, it is easier to lure these addicts into destructive activities. Jihadist groups tell these Maldivians that due to their un-Islamic practices; they would end up in hell and the only way to redemption is joining jihad and causing harm to “enemies of Islam”. After being recruited by religious extremists, these young men and women are told that their “sinful crimes” actually did not violate the tenets of Islam. They rationalize this view by claiming that since the Maldivian government does not enforce a strict, militant view of Sharia law, it is illegitimate, and that stealing from kafir (unbelievers) to finance jihad is not prohibited.
Such acts have resulted in deeper connections between Maldivian gangs and Islamist terrorist outfits.
Maldives’ authorities turn a blind eye to such terrorist recruitment.
