Crime
Gunfights between Channel smugglers (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Europol
Crime
People-smuggling network behind 10,000 Channel migrant crossings targeted with Europe-wide arrests (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Crime
Police bust scheme to smuggle ‘thousands’ to UK in boats
(AFP) Police across several European countries on Tuesday launched a major coordinated crackdown on criminal networks suspected of using small boats to smuggle people into the UK, British and German authorities said. Officers staged dawn raids in Belgium, Britain, France, the Netherlands […]
Law Enforcement
Suspected jihadist terrorist recruiter arrested in Costa Blanca area of Spain
(Olive Press) A 41-year-old suspected terrorist has been arrested in Elche by the Guardia Civil. The man, a Norwegian national of Iraqi descent, was detained in the La Hoya area. He had lived there with a woman and two children for around […]
Arts & Entertainment
Italy arrests Pakistanis linked to 2020 Charlie Hebdo attack
(AFP) Italy’s anti-terrorism police and Europol on Tuesday arrested Pakistanis suspected of links to the man who attacked France’s Charlie Hebdo magazine in 2020. The sting led to “arrests in Italy and abroad of Pakistani citizens with direct ties” to Zaheer Hassan […]
Internet
Online platforms now have an hour to remove terrorist content in the EU If tech companies regularly fail to tackle terrorist content, they could face a fine of up to 4 percent of their global revenue.
(Politico) Facebook, Google and Twitter now have an hour to take down flagged terrorist content spreading on their platforms or risk fines of billions of euros. Passed in 2021, the EU’s terrorist content regulation enters into force Tuesday. It seeks to crack […]
Government & Politics
Zuckerberg’s Metaverse ripe for terror recruitment, says EU
(EUobserver) Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse could become a new breeding ground for terrorism and recruitment, according to an EU internal document seen by EUobserver. “The creation of a virtual caliphate or Da’esh base camp is one of the risks linked with this new […]
Arts & Entertainment
‘Extremist’ audio clips removed from SoundCloud in Europe-wide operation
(Euronews) Authorities in six European countries have conducted a joint operation to remove extremist content and propaganda on SoundCloud. The European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol said on Friday that hundreds of illegal files had been removed from the German music streaming platform. The […]
Crime
UK arrests suspected migrant boat ‘kingpin’
(AFP) The UK’s National Crime Agency announced Wednesday it had arrested the suspected leader of an international criminal operation supplying small boats to people smugglers taking migrants across the Channel. The numbers of migrants crossing the busy shipping lane from northern France […]
News: Europe
Dutch ISIS recruits ‘held frontline roles’ despite their protestations Report from counter-extremism think tank finds many came from groups linked to Anjem Choudary
(National-UAE) Dutch ISIS recruits held pivotal roles in the terrorist group — not the minor roles they have claimed — and they should be held fully accountable for their crimes, a report from the Counter [Extremism] Project think tank says. Claims that […]
Crime
Police in northern Greece net migrant smuggling gang
(Kathimerini) In an operation carried out with help from the European police agency Europol, law enforcement authorities in northern Greece have dismantled what they believe to be a large migrant smuggling ring. According to an announcement released by the Hellenic Police (ELAS) […]
Law Enforcement
Five followers of Pakistani terrorist group arrested in Andalucia and Catalonia
(Euro Weekly) National Police officers have arrested five Pakistani citizens in Barcelona, Girona, the Jaen municipality of Ubeda, and Granada. They were detained in an operation coordinated by the National High Court against followers of a Pakistani movement considered to be a […]
Government & Politics
EU nations urge stronger borders to ease migration pressures
(AP) Ministers from European Union nations under pressure from unauthorized border crossings asked Friday for more action to protect the bloc’s external borders as well as for rules to return migrants to their homelands or where they started their journeys. Interior ministers […]
Crime
Police arrest 29 for bringing people to EU on leisure boats
(AP) Police in Italy, Albania and Greece on Wednesday arrested some 30 people accused of profiteering several hundred million euros to smuggle refugees and migrants into the European Union from Turkey on yachts and other leisure vessels. The coordinated action is believed […]
Law Enforcement
Spain arrests 5 people as suspected members of jihadist cell
(AP) Spanish police said Wednesday they arrested five suspects — four in Barcelona and one in Madrid — believed to be part of a jihadist group that sought to recruit others to its cause and was attempting to acquire weapons. Police said […]
Government & Politics
EU crisis meeting to discuss surge of migrants from Belarus to Lithuania
(Reuters) European Union home affairs ministers will discuss a surge of illegal border crossings from Belarus to EU member state Lithuania at an extraordinary meeting on Aug. 18, the Slovenian EU presidency said on Friday. Representatives of the EU border agency Frontex […]
Government & Politics
ISIS risk in Europe ‘significantly’ reduced, says EU counter-terrorism coordinator De Kerchove: Cooperation has reduced vulnerabilities
(Politico) Islamic State “no longer has the capacity to send terrorists onto European soil” thanks to “action taken by the international coalition,” the EU’s counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove told Le Monde in an interview published Saturday. However, he warned “the threat […]
Law Enforcement
Jihadi suspects using Irish social welfare payments during Covid-19 to fund Islamic terror groups overseas (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Health & Medicine
Europol: Violent extremists take advantage of COVID-19 pandemic A new report on terrorist activity in the EU has highlighted the threat of online propaganda during the pandemic. The research shows Islamist and far-right extremists have posed the greatest threat.
(Deutsche Welle) The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the spread of violent ideologies, according to a new report published by the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol on Tuesday. The report highlighted the prominence of online propaganda in building communities and encouraging lone wolf […]
Law Enforcement
Arrests of jihadi terror suspects in Ireland more than tripled in 2020 (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Crime
Officials had been warned about assassination of Iranian activist in The Hague
(NL Times) An asylum seeker from Iran had warned the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) and possibly also the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) that an Iranian-Dutch activist would be murdered, investigative journalists from Argos and the Danish broadcaster DG discovered. […]
Crime
Italy arrests fake ID gang linked to Vienna terror attack
(AFP) Italian police said Friday they arrested seven people accused of supplying fake identity papers to terrorists, including the suspect behind last year’s deadly attack in Vienna. The suspects, described as “eastern European citizens,” produced “thousands of forged documents, also for the […]
Crime
Priti Patel blames Facebook, Twitter and TikTok for the soaring number of migrants trying to reach the UK (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Law Enforcement
Spain arrests 3 for urging extremist attacks against France
(AP) Three men whose social media posts allegedly encouraged extremist attacks against French targets are in custody in Spain after Spanish police and the European Union’s crime agency traced them to the southern city of Granada. The men threatened violent attacks against […]
Crime
German police busts suspected refugee smuggling ring Over a dozen suspects were linked to an operation to smuggle Syrians through the so-called Balkan route since 2019. Coordinated raids early on Tuesday involved hundreds of officers across several cities and states.
(Deutsche Welle) German authorities launched coordinated raids nationwide targeting a human trafficking ring early on Tuesday, arresting suspects in Berlin, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, federal police said in a statement. Around 400 officers mobilized in total. The raids stem from […]
Legal
Spain court remands three suspected IS members
(AFP) A court in Spain on Monday remanded in custody three suspected members of Islamic State arrested last week in Barcelona, including an Algerian man who had fought for the Islamist group in Iraq. Spanish authorities began their investigation after becoming aware […]
Government & Politics
Brussels wants to give Europol more powers in bid to tackle terrorism
(Euronews) Brussels has unveiled a new package of measures aimed at tackling the threat of terrorism in Europe, including plans to give a stronger role to Europol. A spate of recent terrorism attacks prompted the European Commission (EC) to publish the measures […]
Law Enforcement
Woman who planned on joining terrorists in Syria arrested in Spain She preached the most violent forms of terrorist ideology, showing her support for the recent beheading of a French teacher who showed cartoons of Prophet Muhammad
(Olive Press) A young woman who was planning to join jihadist terrorists in Syria has been arrested in Spain. Police say the woman — born and raised in Europe — had been rapidly radicalised and now wanted to join the so-called Islamic […]
Government & Politics
Attacks spur EU to tighten borders, boost policy agency
(AP) European Union interior ministers pledged Friday to beef up border security, boost the powers of the bloc’s police agency and crack down on hate speech and online propaganda in response to a wave of extremist attacks, most recently in Austria and […]
Crime
Eight detained after Vienna attack had previous convictions
(AFP) Eight of those detained following Monday night’s terrorist attack in Vienna had previous convictions, including for terror offences, the Austrian interior minister said Thursday, as the investigation extended to Switzerland and a second, unnamed country. In the wake of the attack […]
Internet
Islamic State recruiter in Benidorm area who targeted young people is arrested on Spain’s Costa Blanca Moroccan national used the internet to radicalise young people
(Olive Press) A man has been arrested on the Costa Blanca for recruiting young people to support the Islamic State terror group. Guardia Civil agents detained the 50-year-old Moroccan national in Altea, 10 kilometres north of Benidorm, on Wednesday (October 21). He […]
Crime
European police bust cross-Channel migrant smuggling ring
(AFP) European police have busted a human smuggling ring said to be part of a network transporting thousands of migrants in life-threatening conditions across the Channel to Britain. Law officers, working together with Europe’s policing and judicial agencies Europol and Eurojust, arrested […]
Crime
People-smugglers using social media to organise migrant crossings, MPs told (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Law Enforcement
More than 1,000 terrorists arrested across Europe as 119 plots uncovered Almost all 2019 terrorism attack deaths in Europe were caused by ISIS, report reveals
(National-UAE) Almost 120 terrorist plots were uncovered across Europe last year, resulting in more than 1,000 arrests. ISIS was responsible for all but one of the 10 people killed. The latest figures covering terrorist incidents in 2019 have been revealed in Europol’s […]
Government & Politics
Cyprus to deport 17 migrants suspected of terror links
(AP) Cyprus will deport 17 migrants who are being held on suspicion of having links to extremist groups or involved in acts of terror, the country’s interior ministry said Monday. The men are currently being held in a migrants’ detention facility and […]
Law Enforcement
Spanish police: Moroccan ISIS sympathizer radicalized multiple youths Moroccan police arrested the radicalized suspects, who were planning terror attacks in Morocco and UAE, in different operations.
(Morocco World News) After the arrest of a Moroccan ISIS sympathizer on May 20, Spanish police have said the suspect managed to convince several youths to join the terrorist group. Spanish media reported last week that police arrested the suspect in Bolanos […]
Children & Teens
Germany, Luxembourg to take in migrant children from Greece
(AP) Germany plans to take in up to 50 unaccompanied minors staying at overcrowded refugee camps in Greece, while Luxembourg has agreed to accept 12, government officials said Tuesday. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer will propose to the Cabinet on Wednesday a plan […]
Internet
European police attack Islamic State’s online presence
(Reuters) European police agencies have knocked out several internet servers used by Islamic State in a significant blow to the armed group’s ability to spread propaganda online, the Europol police agency said on Monday. The move shut down a large number of […]
Law Enforcement
Swedish woman arrested over terror offences after landing at London’s Gatwick Airport (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Law Enforcement
Britain has ‘by far the highest rate of returning jihadi fighters in Europe’ (LINK ONLY)
Eye on Islamism is no longer printing excerpts from articles published by certain news sources. To read the original article, click here.
Law Enforcement
Spain busts gang that helped ‘finance Al Qaeda militia’
(AFP) Spanish police on Tuesday detained 10 nationals of Syrian origin accused of financing “Al Qaeda terrorist militia” in Syria, the interior ministry and a source close to the probe said. With Europol’s collaboration, more than 350 agents took part in an […]
Law Enforcement
IS focus on millennial women is worry for future: Europol
(AFP) The Islamic State group is targeting women from the millennial generation as it seeks new recruits after the fall of its so-called caliphate, the EU’s police agency said Friday. In a report on IS propaganda focussed on women, Europol said that […]
Law Enforcement
In borderless Europe, security chiefs unite against jihadist threat
(AFP) With the jihadists behind the bloodshed in Paris and Brussels able to criss-cross European borders at will, anti-terror chiefs have been forced to come together to seek a common response to a global threat. Experts say the deeper security cooperation was […]
News: Europe
Spain helping US identify European jihadists in Syria Interior Ministry is receiving information from officers working on Operation Gallant Phoenix that could serve as evidence against returning fighters
(El País) Spanish agents in Syria are cooperating with Operation Gallant Phoenix, a U.S.-led effort to identify fighters from Western nations who have joined Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in the region, counter-terrorism sources told El País. The Spanish Interior […]