The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has revealed that an artificial intelligence-assisted counter-terrorism operation identified 126 suspected foreign terrorist fighters from visual material published by jihadist groups.
The operation, codenamed Operation Shams II, involved 28 specialised officers and experts from 11 countries, including Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, Qatar, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
Interpol described the operation as a “first-of-its-kind” exercise combining artificial intelligence, facial recognition and other investigative technologies to analyse material linked to terrorist organisations.
According to the organisation, investigators initially extracted 108,076 facial images from visual content released by jihadist groups. The images were later narrowed to 6,362 unique faces for processing through Interpol’s facial recognition system.
Additional images were supplied by officers at Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Baghdad, Iraq. The organisation said AI agents and advanced scripts were used to automate parts of the data collection and investigative process, including removing duplicate images and conducting quality checks.
After processing and comparison, 126 suspected foreign terrorist fighters were identified. Interpol said the matches would help enrich existing intelligence on the suspects, including information on their possible locations and social networks.
The organisation said the data was being integrated into its databases to strengthen international efforts to detect, track and disrupt terrorist movements. Investigative leads generated during the operation are already supporting judicial proceedings in participating countries, including a case involving two suspected foreign terrorist fighters who are currently detained.
Interpol stressed that AI-generated results were not treated as confirmed identifications. All findings were reviewed and verified by trained officers and analysts.
The organisation also said investigators used cryptocurrency tracing tools to identify potential illicit financing linked to terrorism. Three requests were reportedly sent to a virtual asset service provider seeking customer information.
As part of the operation, participating countries also held discussions with representatives of the online gaming industry over concerns about youth radicalisation in digital environments. Interpol said the engagement helped strengthen cooperation between law enforcement and the private sector and identified opportunities to improve information sharing.
With thousands of additional images still awaiting processing, Interpol said further analysis could lead to more matches and generate additional investigative leads.
