Authorities in Tanzania have arrested a key recruiter for Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP). the recruiter was arrested in the company of fifteen men and after crossing the border of Cóbuè, Lago district, Niassa province.
According to preliminary intelligence, the man arrested is a trader in the region and has been ferrying recruits across either side of the border between Mozambique and Tanzania. Traders in Mozambique border towns have been very instrumental in facilitating and transporting youths, women, and even children kidnapped by the group or voluntarily seeking to join ISCAP. They use legitimate cross-border travel business to smuggle in the radicalized youth from across various parts of Tanzania and into the training camps in Cabo Delgado.
The arrests come as Tanzania and Mozambique work collaboratively to ensure that the growing threat caused by ISCAP presence and the looming threat of expansion into Tanzania is decapitated before the group evolves into a multi-national organization like its parent-group in Iraq and Syria.
Analysts continue to warn that the threat of ISCAP to the Great Lakes region is imminent and growing and that while most countries especially in the Southern bloc appear laxed to offer help to quash the insurgency, the group continues to exhibit its capability and growing organizational capacity that allows it to capture and remain in control of key areas such as the port of Mocimboa da Praia.
