The ‘most dangerous Swiss terrorist’ in YPG custody in Rojava

Daniel D. is described as the "most dangerous terrorist in Switzerland". In mid-June, he was captured by the SDF during an operation in eastern Syria and is under arrest.

Daniel D. is the only Swiss national sought by Interpol worldwide. In April 2014 he went to Syria and joined the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) under the name "Abdullah Funsu al-Swissri". Born in Geneva, he was previously known as a terrorist in Switzerland. He had traveled to Turkey with a fake ID and been arrested there.

Although his true identity was known, Turkey did not deliver Daniel D. to Switzerland, but allowed him to cross the border into Syria. The cell of Daniel D. included Kevin Z. and Nicholas P., who were arrested in Morocco last December after the attack against Scandinavian tourists.

The Swiss security authorities had long ago lost track of Daniel D. when the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), together with the YPG/YPJ, carried out an operation against an ISIS site near al-Baghouz in mid-June. Following the liberation of the last ISIS enclave on March 23, 2019, the self-proclaimed caliphate was militarily defeated and the remaining Islamists hid in the Syrian desert in the Badiya al-Sham area on the Iraqi border. Since then, the SDF has carried out special operations to eliinate the last remnants of the ISIS.

According to a report by Kurt Pelda and Titus Plattner published today in Swiss Sunday newspaper, one of the Islamists living in East Syria is Daniel D. The article describes in detail how Daniel D. and other jihadists have organized in Switzerland and crossed into Syria via Turkey.

Daniel D. is currently being held in a prison in Rojava (West Kurdistan). Whether Switzerland demands his extradition is not certain yet. Together with Daniel D., there are two other Swiss citizens in captivity in northern Syria.

To date, over 3,000 ISIS members have been arrested by YPG special forces in northern and eastern Syria. Nearly 1,000 of them are citizens of 46 different states, many of them from Western countries. Only France, Indonesia, Russia, Morocco and Sudan have demanded the extradition of their citizens from the autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria.