Wannabe jihadists bent on reaching Islamic State's stronghold in Syria are taking circuitous routes from Europe to evade authorities, according to a report.
Some of the would-be warriors take meandering routes through various countries to reach the more porous Bulgarian border en route to Turkey, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Others engage in so-called "broken travel" – to visit relatives and reach tourist sites – before setting off to their final destination.
Hayat Boumeddiene, wife of Paris terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, used the strategy to reach Syria before her husband slaughtered four people in a kosher supermarket last month. She first drove from France to Spain then flew to Turkey to join ISIS in Syria.
Most of the ISIS-bound Europeans still try to hop on direct flights to Turkey, where they then try to slip into bordering Syria, the newspaper reported, citing diplomats and intelligence sources.
European Union officials are being challenged by the growing sneaky tactics – particularly since European citizens are no longer subject to border checkpoints and passport checks in many areas.
Hayat BoumediennePhoto: AP
At least 3,400 Europeans are among the roughly 20,000 foreign ISIS fighters. Only about 100 jihadists came from the US, the report said.
EU officials from various countries are meeting this month in Brussels to strengthen counter-terror efforts and increase information exchanges to close the loopholes. Last week, officials seeking to stop potential jihadists from leaving agreed to include passenger flight details in law-enforcement databases.
But some countries are concerned that sharing too much personal information about citizens could violate privacy laws, EU and United Nation officials told the newspaper.
Among the weak points is Turkey's 170-mile border with Bulgaria. Hundreds of Europeans have crossed from Bulgaria into Turkey en route to Syria, Bulgarian Interior Minister Veselin Vuchkov said last month, the paper reported.
Bulgaria has approved expanding its border fence with Turkey and agreed to deploy troops on the Turkish border. The US military also has begun to train Bulgarian border police.
"We are doing as much as any EU nation to boost security, but with the added surveillance of arrivals at Istanbul airport, more people are coming to Bulgaria," a senior Bulgarian official said, the paper reported.
Before the terror attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Bulgarian cops arrested Fritz-Joly Joachin – who was believed to have had ties to one of the murderous Kouachi brothers – as he tried to enter Turkey.
Fritz-Joly Joachin was picked up by Bulgarian cops as he tried to enter Turkey.Photo: Getty Images
But Turkish officials said Joachin was en route to Syria with three others who were not stopped. They were later arrested by Turkish authorities and extradited to France.
"The Bulgarians missed these people, and they shouldn't have," a senior Turkish foreign ministry official told the Wall Street Journal . "It's not the first time this has happened, and it's a problem."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Would-be jihadists detouring through Europe to reach ISIS
Dengan url
http://solusiagarsehat.blogspot.com/2015/02/would-be-jihadists-detouring-through.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Would-be jihadists detouring through Europe to reach ISIS
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Would-be jihadists detouring through Europe to reach ISIS
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar