According to Bukarti, security intelligence obtained over the previous few months demonstrates that ISWAP has successfully been able to improve their access to the internet.
Bulama Bukarti, a Senior Fellow at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has expressed concern about the Islamic State’s West Africa Province’s (ISWAP) acquisition of high-speed Internet connection and its drone research for intelligence gathering and potential fighting.
Bukarti revealed the alarming information live on Friday’s episode of Politics Today on Channels Television.
“There are very worrying developments in Africa,” he continued, “including in the Lake Chad region, where we have the IS affiliate, ISWAP, increasing its capacity.”
“And the reason for that is that ISIS in Iraq and Syria provides it with resources, training, and leadership. Two of the more concerning trends we have observed in terms of technology use or Internet use are listed below.
According to Bukarti, security intelligence obtained in recent months demonstrates that ISWAP has been effective in enhancing their Internet access.
“Before now, ISWAP would need to travel to cities like Maiduguri and they would struggle for hours to get access to the Internet,” he added. “They would want to use the Internet to post communication or to download something.”
“However, over the past few months, we have been receiving information that ISWAP has begun to access Thuraya, i.e., that Thuraya is a provider of satellite Internet services.
The rural sections of the Lake Chad region now have high-speed Internet connectivity because they are purchasing them from Lagos and then from Chad. They converse with one another and plan their attacks utilizing it.
The security expert revealed that the terrorists utilized a vehicle with Thuraya Internet technology mounted to connect with terrorists in other places, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and ISIS agents around the world, while carrying out operations.
The second concerning trend relates to ISWAP’s employment of drones, according to Bukarti. ISWAP first began utilizing drones about five years ago.
In the films, we could see their fighters attempting to pilot the little commercial drones while laughing and acting amazed at how it was flying. They soon began utilizing the footage for propaganda.
The security expert claimed that in addition to obtaining intelligence on the military, the insurgents would use drone footage and photographs of their troops as part of their propaganda.
He explained that in one operation, for instance, the perpetrators first took a drone snapshot of the military base they intended to attack before launching their attack when they realized what was inside.
Bukarti added that ISWAP would be testing armed delivery drones in the third stage of the ongoing development.
“They have begun to experiment with how to put explosives on those drones, and if they have succeeded in doing that, then we would start to see attacks from the air, which would be deadly and prolong the crisis in the Lake Chad region without the use of fighters or suicide bombers.
The security expert referred to the development as “a very worrying development” and emphasized the necessity for the Federal Government to step up its efforts to look into the sources of ISWAP’s Internet and drones as well as to make sure that the supply lines are closed.
