The terrorists attract young Saudis, especially those below 20 years of age, and exploit their tender age to mislead them and trap them to become extremists. They hunt the youth who come from villages and rural areas. As they are ignorant of what is going on, they are easy to mould and mislead, according to a 30-year-old Saudi man, who spent three years with a terrorist group.In an interview with the Arabic daily Okaz recently, the man, identified only by his initials S.O.O., said he was repentant and related his experiences. He said he accompanied the terrorists, met their leaders such as Sultan Bejad and Abdullah Abu Nayan Al Subaea who are on the most wanted list. Being close to them, he knew about their methods used in recruiting young men. He focused on the way they train their victims and how they send them to remote areas, deserts and Afghanistan to train them for suicide operations. The terrorists use some of the young recruits in their plots and others in collecting information about strategic places, and some others in collecting funds.
They always look for unemployed and idle youth who need money. When they tighten the noose around their necks they reveal to them their plans. They also intimidate the recruits that if they report them to the police they will put themselves in trouble. They obey them and lease houses in their name.
S.O.O. said that they engage the young in "futile boring discussions". "The basic aim of these long tedious discussions is to mislead them and distract their attention. They forbid what Islam does not forbid and what the Board of Senior Ulema, the highest religious authority in the country, permits. They don't miss any opportunity to belittle our scholars and leaders whom the entire world shows great respect," he told the daily. He said that in public they introduce themselves as preachers organising religious symposia and giving lectures to obtain permits to organise these camps. "But in reality these camps are a platform for disseminating their evil and deviant thoughts. In these camps they advocate and spread their deviant thoughts by giving edicts prohibiting matters, which Islam permits," he added.
Asked why he joined them, he said he was looking for religious knowledge and guidance, and sought their help by joining them in 1998. When he came closer to them he realised they were not who they said they were. He explained that the group usually does not directly disseminate their thoughts in the minds of the youth. They gradually do this until they influence their minds and brainwash them so as to fully control them. They achieve this in stages. In the first stage they try to lure them to their fold through lectures, which serve as a cover for misguiding the authorities. "When they advocate their deviant thoughts, they present it in a gilded plate. They exactly behave like drug peddlers who convince their victims of the advantages of using drugs, which of course are very destructive," S.O.O. said.
The second stage is that when the youngster falls in their trap and is convinced of accompanying them they start instilling in their minds the jihad thought through video cassettes. They also narrate to them imaginative stories about their heroic struggle there "which of course are pure lies". The third one is that when the youth are psychologically prepared, they send them to Afghanistan to receive training in Al Qaeda bases under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. Before they leave for Afghanistan they are provided with money and a plan about how to reach there. They also provide them with books authored by Osama bin Laden, which derogate all Muslim scholars. The fifth and last stage is the return of the youth from Afghanistan "with blasphemous thoughts implanted in their minds".