A person suspected of helping three British schoolgirls join the Islamic State in Syria is not a Canadian citizen, nor an employee of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, CTV News has learned.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the man in custody worked for the intelligence agency of a country that is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State, but that it wasn't the U.S. or an E.U. member.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior intelligence officer with CSIS, told CTV News Channel it was likely an informant paid in exchange for information.
He called that possibility an “embarrassment” for CSIS, but said that informants do sometimes “go rogue.”
“(CSIS) works with people who need to dress the part and act the part in order to get close to ISIS,” said Juneau-Katsuya. “It’s a dirty job.”
At the same time, Juneau-Katsuya says he doubts working with CSIS made it easier for the man arrested to assist the girls, because informants aren’t given much access to information.
Although Juneau-Katsuya says the man in question could be from any country, he believes it is “definitely somebody who knows his way around Turkey.”
Peter Ahearn, a former FBI special agent, told CTV News Channel that he believes the man in question could be from “a country that wants to embarrass the U.K.”
“When they don’t mention the country, I think possibly the Iranians could be part of this thing,” he said. “But again, what’s the motivation?”
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney refused to comment on the reports Thursday.
“I am aware of these stories,” Blaney said in parliament in response to a question about the arrest from the NDP’s Megan Leslie.
“I do not comment on operational matters,” he added.
The three girls have been identified as Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15. They travelled from the U.K. to Turkey last month, from where they are believed to have crossed into Syria.
With files CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife and The Canadian Press
