PARAMARIBO--Suriname was rattled on Thursday by a Facebook post in which someone who purported to be from terror group ISIS threatened to kill scores of people unless two terror suspects who are on trial are released from jail. Authorities were quick to rule the post a hoax, but they nonetheless took rigorous security measures at the locations that were threatened. “We take every threat seriously,” Vice President Ashwin Adhin said late Thursday night after a meeting with high ranking officials from the armed forces.
The threatening post appeared on Facebook on Thursday afternoon. Someone who used the Facebook identity Mohammed Ahmed Al-Mehdi – apparently an alias – wrote with bad grammar: “Listen to me Suriname and listen clearly. This is a message from ISIS. Free our brothers from jail. We will kill at least 50 people from Adek, Santo Boma and Lyceum 1. If you don’t take it seriously, we will kill more. You have until 9:00am to response or else you will have to face the consequences. Don’t let Allah judge you.”
Adek is the Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Santo Boma a penitentiary institute in District Wanica, and Lyceum 1 a school in southern Paramaribo.
The “brothers” the post makes mention of are the Netherlands-born siblings Raoul A. (35) and Nasser A. (31). The brothers, who had relocated to their parents’ native Suriname a few years back to start a halal butchery shop in southern Paramaribo, were arrested in Paramaribo on July 23 last year on terrorism charges. At their second hearing this week, court documents showed that the two men have actively recruited people in Suriname, the Netherlands and Belgium to travel to Syria to join ISIS. Authorities produced chat messages that showed that mainly Raoul A. was maintaining tight relationships with key people within ISIS. Both brothers were reportedly also planning to relocate to Syria with their families, but they were arrested before they could execute these plans. The judge decided against pleas by their lawyers to release them.
The terrorism case obviously startled Suriname. The Facebook post Thursday afternoon that threatened mayhem prompted concern. That authorities took it seriously was visible Friday morning. Security services gathered for an impromptu meeting and, as Vice President Adhin announced afterward, security services would work throughout the night and were out guarding schools and other institutes Friday morning.
Schools were nonetheless being kept open. “We have given instructions that they notify their students that they should come in. We cannot afford any discontinuation in education,” Adhin said, insisting that there was no need for panic. “Calm and safety is guaranteed. That is why the security services will be out patrolling,” he added.
It is not clear how authorities have determined that the ominous post on social media was a hoax and who was behind it. National Security Director Daniella Veira only said, “This case is being treated as a local matter for now.”
In a written statement issued through the National Information Institute, government warned that “to be able to guarantee the necessary calm, it would take harsh measures against similar behaviour on social media that causes disruption in the community.”
