Taliban pay for Fijians

Nasik Swami
Saturday, March 09, 2013

FIJIANS recruited by the Taliban are being paid 15,000 rupees ($F491) a month while training in secrecy along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Mansur Khan Mehsud, the director administration and research of the Federal Administered Tribal Areas Research Centre (FATA), a research group on the Taliban in Pakistan, told The Fiji Times that the Taliban admitted it had recruited three Fijians.

Mr Mehsud said the three unidentified men would undergo vigorous training for several months.

"We are still not aware of the date when they were recruited but we know that they are with them (Taliban)," he said from Islamadad on Thursday.

"The names of the three have not been released and will be kept secret.

"It will not even be released to local militants.

"Only the top commanders and leaders will know."

Mr Mehsud said the main reason for the Taliban recruiting Fijians was to spread their hardline Islamic ideology to all corners of the world.

Fiji Police Force spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said Police Commissioner Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua had directed a thorough investigation that was being assisted by the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL).

"We're not taking this threat lightly," he said.

"We have received the report through our sources. We are investigating through our channels overseas."