Uncover CBC True Crime

Two-year-old Salmaan disappears in the chaos of the final days of the war against ISIS. In London, Salmaan’s grandfather, Ash, has been desperate for answers ever since. Poonam travels to Syria to find out what happened to Salmaan and the thousands of children like him.

Bombs drop as Poonam enters Syria, blocking access to the areas she needs to get to. If things get worse, the troops guarding IS prisons say they will be forced to abandon their positions. The team makes contact with Salmaan’s Canadian family, learning what they believe happened to him and his mother. Poonam and her team see up close the dangers still facing children here.

Poonam finally gets into the prison camp where the families of suspected IS fighters are being held. There, she meets a Canadian woman who has information about baby Salmaan. But it’s clear she isn’t telling Poonam everything.

Poonam returns to DA, now suspicious of the secret she is keeping. What was IS like through her eyes? What can she tell Poonam about some of the terror group’s most heinous crimes?

Poonam makes the perilous journey to the last known location of baby Salmaan, a guesthouse near where IS made its last stand. But IS sleeper cells still lurk in the desert and Poonam only has one hour on the ground – can she find what she needs in time?

Salmaan was one of thousands of children born into or brought to live under the caliphate. Four years after the fall of IS, what do their lives look like now? Are they at risk of staying there forever?