The process of identifying the mastermind behind the barbaric Easter Sunday terror attacks has been focused on following the revelation last week by the Government that Mohamed Naufar aka Naufer Moulavi has been identified as the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday carnage. While Opposition politicians continue to question whether Naufer is actually the mastermind behind the attacks, the findings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on Easter Sunday attacks, a probe carried out by the US and the probe by local investigators have all pointed to Naufer and two others as masterminds behind the multiple attacks carried out by a group of Islamist extremists on 21 April 2019. Originally from Kattankudy, Naufer had settled down in Kekunagolla in Kuliyapitiya following his marriage. He had received his education at the Madampe Islahiya Vidyalaya, which is affiliated to the Sri Lanka Jamath Islamiya, and was therefore educated in line with its ideologies. In 1997, Naufer had left to Qatar for employment. In 2006, he had visited Sri Lanka on a brief holiday when he had formed the Darul Adhar organisation with Zaharan Hashim. Naufer was acquainted with Zaharan following the latter’s marriage to Naufer’s relative – Zaharan’s wife is Naufer’s niece (wife’s sister’s daughter). After spending a brief holiday in Sri Lanka, Naufer had returned to Qatar. It is in this backdrop that Abu Bakr had declared a caliphate that includes Sri Lanka in June 2014. Abu Bakr called on those following ISIS to join forces with him to form the caliphate and for others who are unable to make the journey to carry out the necessary work in their respective countries. Naufer was one who had subscribed to this ideology and had started to hold classes in Qatar for Sri Lankan Muslims residing in the country. However, most of those who had attended these classes have now been apprehended by Sri Lanka’s law enforcement agencies. In 2016, Naufer returned to Sri Lanka for a month’s stay. It is during this visit that he had exposed Zaharan to Abu Bakr’s ideology of forming a caliphate. This was revealed in Zaharan’s wife’s statement where she had stated that Naufer had handed her husband (Zaharan) a pen drive that contained details in 2016. Afterwards, Naufer had started to work on propagating the ideology with Zaharan. By 2017, Naufer had taken a lead role in conducting classes to propagate the ideology and such lessons were conducted in Nuwara Eliya, Hamabantota, and Kandy. During this period, Naufer had also given leadership to a group of moulavies – Shiny (Zaharan’s brother), Saajith, and Ibrahim. Naufer had conducted a programme with Zaharan’s brothers – Shiny and Rilwan – to expand the network. It is therefore evident that Naufer had played the role of preacher and network builder with the aim of developing a violent extremist force. However, the wider network that finally played a key role in carrying out the Easter Sunday attacks was formed on 14 October 2016. It was at Husni Mubarak’s wedding in Kattankudy that the Ibrahim brothers, who played a key role in financing the attacks, met with Zaharan. Ibrahim brothers were affiliated to Jamathe Milathe Ibrahim (JMI) and were involved in supplying funds for the organisation and expanding its network. Afterwards, several attacks, 10 to be precise, were carried out in the run up to the Easter Sunday attacks on 21 April 2019. The 10 attacks commenced from 2017 and included the execution of two policemen in Vavunativu (carried out by Rilwan [Zaharan’s brother] and another individual named Gafoor). The training of cadres for an attack had commenced in 2018 under Zaharan’s leadership. However, Naufer had stated to the investigators that he had distanced himself from Zaharan and his group of cadres who carried out the Easter Sunday attacks since he did not agree with the plan. He had stated that he had withdrawn from Zaharan’s network one month prior to the attacks. The reason for the withdrawal has been attributed to the fact that he had believed it was too early to carry out an attack of such magnitude, as there was no preparation in place to continue the struggle afterwards. It seems doubtful that Naufer was unaware of Zaharn’s intentions of carrying out the attacks in April 2019 since preparations for the attacks were in place since early 2019. The safehouses in Katuwapitiya and Panadura were taken in early 2019 with the intention of planning out the attacks. According to Naufer, he had distanced himself from Zaharan only a month prior to the attacks. Nevertheless, by that time, Zaharan was ideologically joined with his emir, Abu Bakr, who at the time was on the decline following a strong crackdown by international law enforcement agencies. It therefore seems Zaharan believed it was the best time to carry out the attacks and bring the ideology to a peak once again. Nevertheless, Naufer’s ideology and his leadership in converting fundamentalists into destructive extremists, ultimately paved the way for the Easter Sunday carnage.   US probe On 8 January this year, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that three Sri Lankan citizens have been charged with terrorism offences, including conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation (ISIS). The men were part of a group of ISIS supporters which called itself “ISIS in Sri Lanka”. That group is responsible for the 2019 Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, which killed 268 people, including five US citizens, and injured over 500 others, according to a federal criminal complaint. According to a release by the US DoJ, the three defendants named in the criminal complaint, all of whom pledged allegiance to ISIS, are: Mohamed Naufar, the “second emir” for the group of ISIS supporters that called itself “ISIS in Sri Lanka”, who allegedly led the group’s propaganda efforts, recruited others to join ISIS, and led a series of multi-day military-type trainings; Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Riskan, who allegedly helped manufacture the IEDs used in the Easter Attacks; and Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed, who allegedly executed a police officer in order to obtain the officer’s firearm, shot a suspected informant, and scouted a location for a separate terrorist attack. The US further announced that all three defendants are charged with conspiring to provide, providing, and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation. Additionally, Naufar and Milhan are charged with aiding and abetting the receipt of military-type training from ISIS. The FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in Los Angeles, including personnel assigned responsibilities for extraterritorial matters, had led the investigation. This matter was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorneys Annamartine Salick, George E. Pence IV, and Christine M. Ro of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section, and Trial Attorney Alicia Cook of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs had also provided valuable assistance. The complaint had outlined the defendants’ roles in the conspiracy and the events that led to near-simultaneous suicide bombings in the Sri Lankan cities of Colombo, Negombo, and Batticaloa on 21 April 2019. One of the US citizens killed was a Department of Commerce employee who had travelled to Sri Lanka on official business. Two days after the attacks, ISIS had claimed credit for the terrorist acts, attributing the murders to “Islamic State fighters”. In late April 2019, the then-leader of ISIS praised the attackers for what he called a retaliation against “the West” for defeating ISIS the prior month in Baghuz, Syria. “ISIS’s Easter attacks in Sri Lanka killed 268 people, including five Americans, many while they worshiped,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers has been quoted in the DoJ release. “…we charge these defendants with bearing their share of the responsibility for these deaths. According to these charges, the defendants were committed supporters of ISIS, recruited others to ISIS’s violent cause, purchased materials for and made IEDs, helped to prepare and trained others who participated in the attacks, and murdered in the name of this deadly foreign terrorist organisation. They are in custody in Sri Lanka. We fully support the Sri Lankan investigation and prosecution of these terrorists and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding these defendants accountable for their crimes. At the same time, these charges reflect that the US justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad. We will continue to pursue justice for the victims of these heinous attacks and for all American victims of terrorism.” “This case clearly demonstrates that the United States will take decisive action to ensure terrorists face justice when they target Americans anywhere in the world,” US Attorney for the Central District of California Nick Hanna had said. “The United States remains confident in the Sri Lankan authorities’ ability to bring the perpetrators to justice – and this complaint makes clear that we stand ready with these charges in the event the defendants attempt to evade justice.” “The domestic charges announced today for an attack on foreign soil represent the FBI’s commitment to deliver justice to traveling American victims and to protect US interests here and abroad,” Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Kristi K. Johnson was quoted as saying in the release. “For decades, and particularly since 9/11, the FBI has deployed agents to various parts of the world to establish an investigative foothold and to liaison with local counterparts with a shared goal of combating terror globally. Our enduring hope is that criminal prosecution – whether domestic or foreign – will bring some peace to the hundreds of victims killed or injured in Sri Lanka as a result of this horrific attack.” The criminal case filed on 11 December 2020 in the US District Court in Los Angeles is the result of a nearly two-year investigation by the FBI, which assisted Sri Lankan authorities in the wake of the suicide bombings that targeted Christian churches and luxury hotels frequented by tourists. The defendants named in the complaint, along with other suspects linked to the attacks, are currently detained in Sri Lanka, where a criminal investigation is ongoing. According to the complaint, the three charged defendants and others involved in the conspiracy – including eight terrorists who died in the suicide bombings – conspired to provide, provided, and attempted to provide material support, including services and personnel, to ISIS through various actions, including: (1) creating, maintaining, and serving as members of a group of ISIS supporters in Sri Lanka devoted to ISIS, its ideology, and to planning and encouraging violent attacks to advance ISIS’s goals; (2) obtaining explosive materials and IED components; (3) manufacturing and testing IEDs, including the types of IEDs ultimately used in the attack; (4) recruiting other ISIS in Sri Lanka members; (5) using ISIS-created training materials to instruct and train the attackers and their co-conspirators in the use of firearms and explosives; (6) procuring safe houses for the group to prepare for attacks in the name of ISIS, including the Easter Attacks, while avoiding law enforcement detection; (7) following ISIS directives to use specific end-to-end encrypted messaging applications to conceal the criminal conspiracy; (8) murdering two Sri Lankan police offers to obtain the officers’ firearms; and (9) shooting a suspected police informant.   Proscriptions As the probe continues into the Easter Sunday attacks, the Attorney General last week announced that steps have been taken to proscribe 11 organisations that promote extremist Islamist ideologies. The proscribed Islamic organisations are United Thowheeth Jama’ath, Ceylon Thowheeth Jama’ath, Sri Lanka Thowheeth Jama’ath, All-Ceylon Thowheeth Jama’ath, Jamiyathul Ansaari Sunnathul Mohomadiya, Dharul Adhar @ Jamiul Adhar, Sri Lanka Islamic Student Movement, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Al-Qaeda, Save the Pearls, Super Muslim.