Items inside the luggage belonging to the first woman in Australia to be found guilty of supporting the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) revealed a jihadi’s travel wish list after it was seized by airport authorities when she attempted to make the trip to the terrorist group’s so-called “Caliphate.”
An Australian court recently released photos of 31-year-old Fatima Elomar’s luggage for the first time since she was arrested at the Brisbane Airport with her four children when she attempted to travel to Syria via Malaysia, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The items may have seemed innocuous at first: men’s underwear, camouflage gear, solar watches, hiking boots,” notes the report. “But the luggage seized at Brisbane Airport in May 2014 was a terrorist’s wishlist bound for two of Australia’s most notorious Islamic State fighters.”
“The 31-year-old mother told authorities she was going for a holiday to Asia with her kids despite carrying bags full of men’s clothing, electronics, $10,000 cash [Australian dollars], her husband’s birth certificate and hiking gear,” adds the report.
The $10,000 in Australian currency amounts to an estimated 7,360 in U.S. dollars.
Fatima pleaded guilty in late 2015 to receiving the items with the intention of supporting her husband Mohamed Elomar in Syria, where he was fighting on behalf of ISIS, a charge that carries a maximum of ten years behind bars. She is expected to appear before a judge for sentencing in July.
Some of the items she was carrying were also intended to reach Tara Nettleton, the wife of Mohamed’s friend and fellow ISIS fighter, Khaled Sharrouf.
Mohamed reportedly married his friend Sharrouf’s 14-year-old daughter Zaynab and impregnated her soon after Fatima’s arrest.
Mr. Elomar and Sharrouf are believed to have been killed in Syria in June 2015.
“In text messages intercepted by police in the lead up to Fatima’s departure, her husband gave her a detailed list of things he needed in Syria including anti-dandruff shampoo, ankle socks, heavy duty sandals for kids and Adidas underwear,” reports the Herald.
“Photos reveal items including solar watches, cargo pants, phone chargers, international power adapters, a men’s shaver and, as specifically instructed by Elomar, long sleeve shirts with no buttons,” it adds.
The Foreign Desk reports that ISIS jihadists often post on social media recommended lists of items essential to “make [the] hijrah,” referring to the holy trip abroad to engage in jihad, adding that the postings provide recruits with detailed directions.
The report points out:
These lists include items vital to ISIS militants like thermal clothing for cold climate, phones and chargers, toiletries and medication – most of which Elomar purchased on eBay, leaving an electronic trail for authorities who later matched her purchases with her online conversations with her husband, Mohamed Elomar.
“Mohamed, a former boxer notorious for an image where he is holding two severed heads and another photo showing his son holding another severed head, fled Australia in 2013 to go to ISIS in Syria,” it continues.