Five men accused of plot to wage private war for the Islamic State

Tokyo police have accused a former university student and a man in his 20s of planning to travel to Syria in 2014 to become Islamic State combatants.

The pair, along with three others believed to be involved in the plot to wage “private war,” were referred to prosecutors on July 3, the first such case in Japan.

“I wanted to join IS and become a combatant,” police quoted the former Hokkaido University student as saying.

The group includes freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka, 50, and Ko Nakata, 58, a researcher of Islam and former Doshisha University professor. They are suspected of communicating with IS members and preparing airline tickets to send the former student and man in his 20s to Syria for combat in August 2014, according to the public safety department of the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo.

The younger pair became involved in the apparent plot after responding to a help-wanted ad stating “Work location is Syria” at a used bookstore in the Akihabara district of Tokyo’s Taito Ward.

The fifth suspect, a man in his 30s with some connection to the shop, introduced the applicants to Nakata in July 2014.

Under the instruction of Nakata, Tsuneoka then purchased three airline tickets for the pair and himself, as he intended to accompany them to report on the story.

The pair, however, did not end up taking the trip, with Tsuneoka telling a reporter that the former student’s passport had been stolen, and that the mother of the man in his 20s prevented him from flying.

Police started to investigate the case after learning about the help-wanted ad. They then asked the former student, who tried to travel to Syria again in October 2014, to submit himself for voluntary questioning the day before his scheduled departure.

The police also searched the homes of Nakata and Tsuneoka.

“It’s ridiculous that simply buying an airline ticket means provoking a war in a foreign country,” Tsuneoka told a reporter.

Source: Asahi