New Zealand’s ‘bumbling jihadi’ ISIS recruit caught in Syria

A “bumbling” Islamic State recruit from New Zealand who encouraged terrorist attacks in Australia has been captured in Syria.

Mark Taylor was placed on a United States terrorist watchlist after he “used social media, including appearing in a 2015 Isis propaganda video, to encourage terrorist attacks in Australia and New Zealand”, according to the US Department of State.

He had been in Syria with Isis since 2014.

The ABC reported that Taylor was now in a Kurdish prison, having surrendered after fleeing from Isis in December.

“There was no food, no money, basic services were pretty much collapsed,” he said. “I was in a pickle myself and had to make a final decision, which was to leave.”

On Monday, the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, confirmed Taylor was being detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Ardern told reporters New Zealand’s lack of diplomatic representation in Syria meant the government’s ability to help him get back home was “severely limited”.

“He would need to make his own way to where New Zealand has consular representation,” she said.

Taylor – who also lived in Australia for stints over two decades and was deported in 2010 – said he had only been deployed as a guard during his time with Isis.

He told the ABC he regretted not having been able to afford a slave, and expected to return home.

The 42-year-old was dubbed the “bumbling jihadi” after a bragging tweet inadvertently revealed his location in Syria in 2014.

He spent 50 days in an Isis prison over the incident, he told the ABC.

The head of New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service spy agency said last month there was a “small but concerning” number of New Zealanders still in Syria. Authorities have declined to confirm an exact figure.

“It’s certainly not the scale that you’ll have seen from some of the other countries,” Ardern has said.

Unlike Australia or Britain, New Zealand has no legislation to remove citizenship from dual citizens.

Ardern said Taylor would face legal consequences if he managed to return and that security provisions to protect the public had been put in place.

“[He] has associated himself with a designated terrorist organisation. New Zealand has laws in place to deal with those circumstances,” she said.

Comment has been requested from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Source: The Guardian