Isis recruiters targeting refugees in Europe

Counter terrorism experts have warned that vulnerable refugees in Europe are being targeted by Islamic State recruiters in a radicalisation effort.

Europol has claimed that German authorities has knowledge of about 300 recorded attempts to recruit refugees trying to enter Europe by April 2016.

Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre’s report, Changes in Modus Operandi of Islamic State revisited, provides an up-to date assessment of the threat this group poses to the EU, on which basis EU Member States can prepare for future attacks.

It predicts that further attacks in the EU, both by lone actors and groups, are likely to be attempted, with the most probable scenario being the use of the same modus operandi, including the same types of weapons, used in earlier attacks - such as in France and Belgium.

Europol also warned that if Islamic State is defeated or severely weakened by coalition forces in its former stronghold of Syria and Iraq, there may be an increase in the number of foreign fighters and their families returning from the region to Europe.

The report says: “Given that it is in the interests of IS (Islamic State) to inflame the migration crisis to polarise the EU population and turn sections of it against those seeking asylum, there is a risk of some infiltration of refugee camps and other groups.

“A real and imminent danger is the possibility of elements of the (Sunni Muslim) Syrian refugee diaspora becoming vulnerable to radicalisation once in Europe and being specifically targeted by Islamic extremist recruiters.”

Rob Wainwright, Europol’s director, said: “The last two years have seen a number of jihadist attacks, several of which have caused mass casualties. The scale of this threat has been widely acknowledged in Europe, triggering an intensified cooperation between police and security services across the continent leading to an increase of arrests and plots foiled before terror attacks could be carried out.

“This shows that the increased cooperation and exchange of data between all relevant services across Europe is a successful means to mitigate the threat posed by IS. Nevertheless today’s report shows that the threat is still high and includes diverse components which can be only tackled by even better collaboration.”