Indian intelligence agencies are burning the midnight oil, scanning the movements of expatriates who allegedly entered into Iraq via Jordan on work permits since the last five years. A substantial number of young semi-skilled expatriates hailing from south Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were believed to have entered into Iraq via the porous Iraq-Jordan border and worked in US army camps stationed in war-torn Iraq.
Though a number of expatriates have been sent back to India in the backdrop of US defense forces withdrawing phase-wise, yet a number of youth have still to return to the country. This is a cause of worry for Indian intelligence agencies and also raising suspicion in the minds of Indian officials that some of them could be engaged with the ISIS in waging a war against the minority Shia led government in Iraq.
A number of recruiting agencies are involved in illegally sending across semi-skilled Indian workers to Iraq via Jordan but a proper count has not been maintained on the number of expatriates who returned into the country. Hence, intelligence agencies are doing the round of recruiting agencies, both licensed and unlicensed operators to ferret information on expatriates whose whereabouts are unknown.
The sudden flurry in tracking down the status of expatriates working in Iraq and especially those who have not returned to their hometown since a long time, triggered off in the backdrop of intelligence reports that an Indian origin Singaporean is learnt to have been joined the ranks of ISIS terrorists in its war against the Shia-dominated rule in Iraq. This has raised strong suspicion in the mind of intelligence agencies that expatriates from India who have not visited their home towns for a long time have been lured by the ISIS to join their ranks.
Some of the semi-skilled expatriates are found have also entered into Iraq through Damascus in Syria, according to an Intelligence Bureau official, are also under the scanner.
“We are on the lookout for Indian expatriates in Iraq, majority of them are semi-skilled workers who have been away from home for a long time. They are strongly suspected to have probably developed ties with ISIS and there are apprehensions that they would sneak into the country and execute terror strikes. Al-Qaieda’s recent threat to strike in the Valley is also a cause of concern Hence a watch out is being maintained on some expatriates who have identified as potential terror suspects,” said an IB official.
