The problem with the policy of “open ports” is that it opens doors to an indiscriminate entrance of individuals coming from all corners of Africa, including criminals and potential terrorists.
Italian authorities are not able to deal with such a massive flow without any type of European support and that is obvious as there are insufficient resources to deal with such an uncontrolled phenomenon. It’s not a case that authorities are unable to properly contain and identify the immigrants and many of them simply disappear once they reach Italian soil.
Additionally, as the war in Libya continues for its 8th year and the jihadist presence in North and Central Africa dramatically increases after Isis’ defeat in Syria on behalf of Russia and the Syrian government, the risk for jihadist infiltration in Europe through the illegal immigration route from Libya increases. Infact it is important to recall that human trafficking is a major source of income for part of the tribal economy in Libya as well as for the militias in southern and western Libya.
Here are a few facts: in April 2018, in Naples, the Italian police arrested 22 year-old Gambian citizen Alagie Touray and accused him of terrorism as he had recorder a video where he swore oath to Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. According to enforcers, Touray was planning to launch a car against a crowded place. The individual had arrived in 2017 in Messina boarding a boat from Libya, together with 638 other immigrants and he had presented a request for political asylum.
Two months later, in June 2018, Italian authorities arrested another Gambian citizen, 34 year-old Sillah Housman, also accused of terrorism. As investigations moved forward it turned out that Touray and Housman had both been trained in weapon and explosive use in a jihadist mobile camp in Libya, known as “Mo’askar”.
Another well-known case of a jihadist reaching Italy on board a boat of illegals is the one involving Anis Amri, the “Berlin Christmas market attacker”; Amri had arrived in the Sicilian island of Lampedusa in February 2011 after fleeing Tunisia on a boat together with other illegals.
Now, the two Gambian jihadists were caught, but the question is: “are there other jihadists currently hiding and waiting to strike?”
The potential infiltration into Europe of jihadists coming from Africa and utilizing the Libyan route, as well as the ones coming from east through the Balkanic route, is a clear and present danger that puts at stake national as well as European security. However that is not the only danger, as Europe is now facing the risk of foreign fighters returning from the Syrian and Iraqi warzones as well as further radicalization being carried out by propagandists throughout Europe, looking for potential volunteers to carry out attacks.
Alexei Grishin’s paradigm on radicalization is an “evergreen” as it recalls that jihadist propagandists and recruiters are always looking for young individuals in harsh economic, social and psychological conditions and there are plenty of such cases throughout Europe among newcomers, second and third generations as well as among natives who have converted to radical Islam.
It’s not simple to predict what will occur in the upcoming summer months, but one thing is for sure, all necessary measures must be taken to prevent and contain jihadist infiltration and the closure of illegal immigration routes is part of such policy, including neutralizing unsuitable rescue initiatives if they end up helping the human traffickers’ activities.
See more at http://www.pravdareport.com/opinion/142396-human_trafficking/
