John Battersby: Massey University security expert addresses concerns surrounding 'bumbling jihadi' Mark John Taylor

A defence and security expert says the Kiwi 'bumbling jihadi' is New Zealand's problem, but it's difficult to get him. 

Mark John Taylor is believed to still be in Syria - but has been charged in Wellington today under the Terrorism Suppression Act.

Massey University security expert John Battersby says the ISIL supporter has no travel documents and New Zealand has no representation in Syria. 

"The possibility of us being connected back with him is actually pretty remote."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A terrorism charge has been filed against bumbling g hardy
Mark Taylor in the Wellington District Court. You'll remember Mark.
He's the key we who went to Syria, remember this,
to for the Islamic State, only to accidentally give away
some ISIS fighters location on Twitter and he got himself
locked up. When we last heard from him in twenty nineteen,
Mark was imprisoned by Curtis fighters in northern Syria. John

(00:22):
Battersby is the Massi University Center for Defense and Security Studies.
Is with me this evening, John, Good evening.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello Ryan, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm well? Thank you. Why are the charges being laid now?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Do you think just reading the media release or the
media comments by the police, it does seem to be
that the Under Office is given approval to an application
that must have been made some time ago for those
charges to be laid. So it could be possibly a
little bit coincidental. There is a chance that changes in
Syria that will be made aware of has hurried the

(00:55):
system along a little bit, and the few people have
got worried that maybe he could end up being released
and start knocking on some duels to come back. So
it would be prudent to have these charges in place
just in case that very unlikely event actually does occur.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Our governments, not just ours, but others around the world
worried about now that Bashar Alissade's regime has fallen. Are
governments worried about fighters coming home?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Oh? I think governments around the world have been worried
for quite some time about fighters coming home. That that
concern has been alleviated over time as fewer and fewer
have come back. But I think given the changes in
Syria at the moment, which have really come out of nowhere,
it would seem and it's probably called almost everybody unaware,

(01:44):
and everybody's probably reassessing at the moment the possible consequences,
the sort of the unthened sideline colesteral kind of consequences
that might occur as a result of this.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
What's Yes, you've been charged with charges relate to the
alleged participation in the Islamic state in Iraq to enhance
their ability to carry out or participate in terrorist acts
in one or more countries. That must be a pretty
raird charge.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, it's never been laid with anyone else, So yes,
it is, And so it's a charge of a New
Zealander heading over breaking New Zealand law in terms of
participating in a terrorist organization overseas. So that's that's the
simple basis of the charge.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
He is a New Zealand citizen. Should the New Zealand
government be actively looking for him so that we can,
you know, make him face up to this charge?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think probably if we were, if we're speaking strictly,
he is our problem, and we should probably go and
get him and bring him back and build them instead
of leaving it for the Syrians or the CODs or
who has got them to live with them. The problem,
I suppose is he's torn up his own travel documents.
Even if he hadn't, they would have expired by now.
We have no representation in Syria. So the possibility of

(03:00):
us being connected back Williams is actually pretty remote. And
I would say there is a pretty dangerous place at
the moment, or an unsusing place for us to go
specifically looking for him. So I don't think anybody. I
don't motivation can be terribly high in anybody's book at
the moment to actually go looking for him.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
No, I wouldn't think so either, John. Thank you very
much for that John Baddisbee massive University Center for Defense
and Security Studies. He's either dead land locked, essentially, or
he's going to get to Turkey, where our diplomatic presence
is to get a passport.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
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