Another Trinidadian discovered fighting in Syria for ISIS

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (Trinidad Express) — Another Trinidadian has been unmasked fighting in Syria for the militant movement Islamic State (ISIS).

The man, according to well-placed sources, has been identified as Ashmead Mohammed, who had sworn his innocence during the 2011 state of emergency when he was detained over an alleged plot to assassinate the Prime Minister and other government ministers. He was never charged.

In an article on September 16 on the New York Post website about a Syrian warplane that had been shot down by Islamic militants, there are accompanying photographs.

One of the photographs, labelled “Islamic State militants hold up pieces of the wreckage”, shows several men holding up pieces of the plane.

One of them prominently holding an automatic weapon, according to well-placed sources, appears to be Ashmead Mohammed.

A close friend of Mohammed contacted CCN about two weeks ago and said they were certain the person in this photograph was him.

Law enforcement sources said based on information they had received, Mohammed had travelled to Syria earlier this year to join ISIS.

The Express ascertained Mohammed attended the La Romaine mosque for quite some time before he was detained in 2011.

Amir Siddiq Ahmad Nasir of the Ahlus Sunna Tul Jamaat Institute in San Fernando, who knew Mohammed, said they often spoke when he visited the mosque at that time.

“We know him from many years the time when he came back from Canada and he came back to live in Trinidad and he went to the La Romaine Masjid and so we interact with him sometimes when he came here. We had a competition in Islamic songs and in the beginning he would participate in that as well,” Nasir explained last Friday.

Mohammed’s singing days were cut short, according to Amir Nasir, as he was later held during the state of emergency. “It was completely unjustified at that time and, since then, authorities here have not provided any evidence or taken any action which seem to confirm these views,” he said.

In 2012, Mohammed, who was interviewed by an Express reporter, said he and the other men had been wrongfully arrested and they were seeking compensation from the Government.

Sources within the Muslim community and those close to Mohammed said when Mohammed returned from Canada he married a Chinese woman, but eventually left her and remarried another woman, and later left the La Romaine area to live in Rio Claro where he pursued farming.

Mohammed never kept contact thereafter with the Amir or anyone else at the La Romaine mosque which he had attended.

John Milton Algernon, another Trinidadian believed to be in Syria, was also from the Rio Claro area.

The Express obtained a local telephone contact number for Mohammed and left several messages last week, but no one returned the calls.

Sources within the Muslim community say they were reliably informed Mohammed left for Syria earlier this year.

Amir Nasir says he does not know whether or not Mohammed supported ISIS, but was clear on his particular views about the terrorist organisation.

The Amir said he saw ISIS as an organisation with nothing to offer the Muslim community around the world. “We feel this is a misguided movement and they seem to be misguiding well-intentioned Muslims to follow them,” he said.

It was three weeks ago that CCN TV6 and the Express broke the story about Trinidadian Shane Crawford fighting in Syria and the reported recruitment of some 50 Trinidadians who are in Syria fighting for ISIS.