INTERPOL operation uncovers 126 foreign terrorist suspects

An international counter-terrorism operation, known as "Operation Shams II," was recently conducted by 11 countries, including Nigeria, in partnership with INTERPOL, the International Criminal Police Organisation. The five-day operation took place in Tunis, Tunisia, from June 1 to 5, 2026, and aimed to identify and disrupt foreign terrorist fighters using artificial intelligence.

Over 108,000 facial images were extracted from jihadist content online, which were processed using AI-generated scripts to identify 126 suspected foreign terrorist fighters. INTERPOL emphasized that AI-generated results were reviewed and verified by trained officers and analysts. The organization also noted that additional intelligence, including hundreds of images linked to terrorism suspects, was supplied by its National Central Bureau in Baghdad, Iraq.

The data is being integrated into INTERPOL's databases to support efforts to detect, track, and disrupt terrorist movements worldwide. The operation leveraged cryptocurrency-tracing tools to investigate terrorist financing, resulting in three urgent requests to a Virtual Asset Service Provider for customer data. INTERPOL's Director of Counter-Terrorism, María Carmen Muñoz González, highlighted the potential of combining international police cooperation with AI-assisted analysis in future operations targeting criminal networks.