The Canadian Security Intelligence Service building in Ottawa, in 2013.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Canada’s spy agency informed British intelligence within 48 hours of learning, in 2015, that an operative had smuggled three British schoolgirls into Syria to join the Islamic State, two sources say.
Scotland Yard was frantically searching for the missing teens in February, 2015, and was apparently unaware that they had been smuggled into Syria by the operative, Mohammed al-Rashed, a double agent who was working for both the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Islamic State.
Mr. al-Rashed transported the girls across the Turkish border on Feb. 17 of that year, and CSIS learned their whereabouts four days later. Within the next two days, Canada passed the details to Britain’s domestic spy agency, known as MI5, and its secret intelligence service, called MI6, the two sources said.
But the sources did not know whether the British agencies had passed the information on to police at Scotland Yard, who were dealing with the girls’ stricken families and handling media inquiries about the case. The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to discuss intelligence matters.
The disclosures about the roles of CSIS and British intelligence could strengthen legal efforts to restore the British citizenship of Shamima Begum, who is believed to be the only one of the three girls still alive.
The British government would not discuss the matter. “It is our long standing policy that we do not comment on operational intelligence or security matters,” it said in a statement to The Globe.
CSIS did not disclose the identity of Mr. al-Rashed to the British agencies, but instead identified him by a code name so British intelligence would know he was the same reliable source who had been providing high-value information on foreign fighters joining the Islamic State, one of the sources said.
It was only after Turkish authorities arrested Mr. al-Rashed on Feb. 28, 2015, that CSIS informed the chief of Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism unit that their operative had transported the British teens into Syria, according to The Secret History of the Five Eyes, a new book by British-based author Richard Kerbaj. The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance that consists of Canada, Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
In his book, Mr. Kerbaj revealed that CSIS convinced Scotland Yard to cover up the covert operation. The Globe reported that Jeffrey Yaworski, the second-in-command at CSIS at the time, went to Ankara in March, 2015, to persuade Turkish authorities to keep silent about the fact that Mr. al-Rashed was a Canadian intelligence asset.
The sources said CSIS shared the names of Islamic State foreign recruits, based on Mr. al-Rashed’s spying, with European countries, and with Britain and the United States.
Mr. al-Rashed, a Syrian national, was recruited by CSIS in 2013 when he approached the Canadian embassy in Jordan and offered to spy on the Islamic State in return for asylum in Canada. In the beginning, a source said, Mr. al-Rashed provided firsthand information from Islamic State camps inside Syria. Later, he began smuggling Islamic State recruits across the Turkish border and sharing their identities with CSIS.
Huda Mukbil, a former senior intelligence officer who ran agents for CSIS, said it is standard operating procedure for CSIS to share information gathered by agents and informants with British intelligence and the CIA, who are key members of the Five Eyes alliance.
“The intelligence we get from the British and Americans is top-notch. They have much more in this line of work, and Canada is always competing to be a player and not just sitting at the table,” she said. “This is information that would have an impact, and we are obligated under the Five Eyes agreement to share any information with our allies, especially as it relates to their nationals.”
Ms. Mukbil has criticized CSIS for not doing a proper “risk assessment” of Mr. al-Rashed. She said it was unacceptable that he had trafficked young girls – aged 15 and 16 at the time – to the Islamic State.
Phil Gurski, a former senior CSIS intelligence analyst, said there is no doubt the spy agency would have informed its Five Eyes partners about the intelligence gathered by Mr. al-Rashed. As an operative with access to the Islamic State, Mr. al-Rashed was providing a window into a “heinous and lethal” terrorist group, Mr. Gurski said.
He defended Mr. al-Rashed for smuggling the girls into Syria, saying they were radicalized, and that they had willingly joined the Islamic State.
“Islamic State would have been asking questions. ‘You have given us 20 people so far and you turned these three away. Can you explain that to us?’” Mr. Gurski said. “They would call him in for questioning and they would apply a screwdriver to the back of the hand, and all of a sudden he starts singing like a canary that he worked for CSIS. He’d be dead, absolutely.”
The Globe has reported that Mr. al-Rashed broke operational rules that forbid intelligence sources from “engaging in illegal activities.” Trafficking people is an offence under the Canadian Criminal Code, and it’s also a violation of an international protocol on the practice, of which Ottawa is a signatory.
Ms. Begum, who was 15 when she crossed into Syria, is in a Kurdish-controlled detention camp in Syria. She was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019.
Tasmine Anunjee, a London-based lawyer for Ms. Begum’s family, said she is a victim of illegal trafficking. He is urging the British courts to allow her to return home.
“Our argument is that Shamima Begum was a victim of trafficking, and it was a very egregious victimization because it involved a state,” he said in an interview. “She is a victim of trafficking not just to criminals but to a spy agency. So in that context that makes our argument strong.”
The Globe has also reported that Mr. al-Rashed was freed from a Turkish prison on Aug. 5, and that CSIS had planned to relocate him to Canada. The government has refused to confirm or deny that the former CSIS asset is in Canada.
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