Europe’s top policeman warns of jihadist threat
UP to 5,000 jihadists trained in the Middle East could be at large in Europe, the EU’s police chief has warned.
“Europe is currently facing the highest terror threat in more than 10 years,” said Rob Wainwright, the British head of Europol, the EU’s police agency.
Thousands of EU citizens have returned to their home countries after being trained by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), Mr Wainwright said.
“We can expect Isil or other religious terror groups to stage an attack somewhere in Europe with the aim of achieving mass casualties among the civilian population,” he told Germany’s Neue
Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper. Before becoming head of Europol in 2009, Mr Wainwright served in senior roles at the UK’s National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Europol estimates the number of EU citizens who have slipped back after terror training in the Middle East as between 3,000 and 5,000, he said. The growing number “presents EU mem- ber states with completely new challenges”.
But he played down fears terrorists are using the migrant crisis to enter Europe posing as asylum seekers. “There is no concrete evidence terrorists are systematically using the flow of refugees to infiltrate Europe,” he said.
His comments come after new information emerged about two suspects being held in Austria in connection with the Paris attacks.
Prosecutors in Salzburg for the first time confirmed reports the two men, a 28-year-old Algerian and a 34-year-old Pakistani who have not been named, entered Europe posing as refugees.
The two suspects, who were arrested at a refugee shelter on Dec 10, have admitted they arrived in Greece with some of the Paris attackers, prosecutors said in a statement.
But they denied reports the suspects had confessed that they were supposed to take part in the Paris attacks.
It has also emerged that a 25-yearold Moroccan and a 40-year-old Algerian arrested on Dec 18 are being held by the Austrian authorities because they were in close contact with the first two suspects, prosecutors said.