Jihadist hopefuls are buying up tickets on cruise ships to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq in an effort to bypass security measures used to catch the extremists in places like Turkey, the New York Post reported on Friday.
This is why Interpol, the international police group, is expanding a new program called I-checkit. The system is used when airlines compare passenger information with Interpol's databases, and it will hopefully one day be able to expand to include cruise ships, hotels, bands and other private-sector agencies.
Turkey borders Syria and has been a major point of entrance for international fighters trying to join ISIS, which has taken over territory in Syria and Iraq. The Turkish government has come under fire for its porous borders and allegations of it permitting terrorist movement into Syria in order to weaken President Bashar Assad's administration.
Interpol Chief Ronald Noble said that Turkey was a popular destination, but wouldn't name any others. He also wouldn't say exactly how many people were involved with the extremist groups, but urged countries to be vigilantly screen travelers at airports, and more frequently, cruise lines.
"As we've gathered data, we've realized that there are more and more reports that people are using cruise ships in order to get to launch pads, if you will - sort of closer to the conflict zones - of Syria and Iraq," he said, according to RT.
Catching terrorists at sea has been difficult because cruise ships allow the fighters to cover their tracks by getting on and off at any ports they want.
But Interpol thinks that, with Turkey now a less popular option, I-Checkit will be instrumental at catching terrorists by cross-checking information.
"It's a global threat - 15,000 fighters or more from 81 countries traveling to one specific conflict zone... In order to prevent their travel and identify them, there needs to be greater information-sharing among the region, among national security agencies," Interpol's Director of Counterterrorism Pierre St. Hilaire said.
