INTERPOL AI-powered terror hunt identifies 126 foreign terrorist fighters in Tunis operation
By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – INTERPOL on Friday identified 126 terror suspects in online operation Shams-II using cutting-edge AI tools with the participation of 28 specialized officers and experts from 11 countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, Qatar, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan in a first-of-its-kind operation to bust terrorist networks in the digital domain.
The five-day operation from June 1 to 5, was staged in Tunis as law enforcement officers extracted 108,076 facial images from visual content published by jihadist groups.
According to INTERPOL, “Programmed AI agents and advanced AI-generated scripts were used to automate parts of the data collection and investigative processes, enabling the system to deduplicate and quality-check the images. This narrowed the dataset to 6,362 unique, high-quality facial images ready for processing through INTERPOL’s Facial Recognition System. AI-generated output was subject to review and verification by trained officers and analysts in accordance with INTERPOL’s Rules on the Processing of Data.”
Interpol added: “To date, 126 Foreign Terrorist Fighters have been identified from the images processed during Operation Shams II. These matches will enrich existing intelligence on suspects, including potential locations and social networks. The data is now being integrated into INTERPOL’s databases, reinforcing global efforts to detect, track and disrupt terrorist movements worldwide.”
María Carmen Muñoz González, INTERPOL’s Director of Counter-Terrorism, said, “The success of Operation Shams II demonstrates the value of combining international law enforcement cooperation with responsible AI-assisted analytical capabilities. The operational model provides a strong foundation for supporting future international law enforcement cooperation targeting criminal actors around the world.”
INTERPOL added with thousands more images yet to be processed, further comparisons are ongoing and may identify additional leads.
