Your Source for NPR News & Music

Mubin Shaikh: Why Did a Former Extremist Go Undercover To Fight Terrorism?

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode Going Undercover

About Mubin Shaikh's TED Talk

When his childhood friend was connected with a terrorist attack, Mubin Shaikh set out to help combat Islamic extremists--even though he used to be one. So he joined the Canadian Intelligence Service.

About Theo E.J. Wilson

Mubin Shaikh is an expert in radicalization, de-radicalization, and counter-terrorism. As a young man, he trained briefly with members of the Taliban, but eventually abandoned that ideology and became an undercover counter-terrorism operative with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He was a key witness in the infamous 2006 Toronto Terrorism case.

Shaikh has since left the Intelligence Service. He co-authored the book Undercover Jihadi: Inside the Toronto 18.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
NPR/TED Staff
Related Stories
  1. Texas charging another large group of migrants with “riot participation”
  2. El Pasoans catch glimpse of solar eclipse
  3. Texas criminally charges more than 200 migrants involved in alleged “riot” at the border
  4. Lebanese migrant allegedly tied to terrorist group appears in federal court with a black eye