Intelligence services warn: “Suspected terrorists traveled to Europe with plans to commit attack” | Abroad

The Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office recently instructed the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (BKA) to investigate suspected terrorists who have entered the country as asylum seekers with apparently concrete plans for an attack. The suspects are mainly from Central Asia and the Middle East.

“It’s always the same song,” a state security official tells ‘FOCUS’ online. “Just before the border, they destroy their identity cards, name a random country of origin and then apply for asylum under a false name. How are we supposed to know if there is a terrorist in front of us?”

The Austrian Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN) recently found that the number of recently recruited terrorists is in the double digits. The terrorists usually arrive in Europe as asylum seekers and only meet their accomplices in the country of destination, it is said.

British security sources also told Britain’s Daily Mail that 19 suspected terrorists crossed the Channel in small boats and arrived in the UK last year. They would have ties to terrorist groups such as Islamic State and al-Shabaab. Most have submitted their asylum applications and cannot be deported for the time being, it is said. They are five Iraqis, five Iranians, four Afghans and a Libyan.

“It’s a real problem and not something we can easily stop,” said a British security source. “Once they’re here, we can monitor them and mitigate any potential threat they pose, but it’s a huge burden on our services.”

“The threat posed by Islamism remains great,” a spokeswoman for the German secret service told ‘FOCUS’ online. “In Germany, too, a potential Islamic attack must be taken into account every day.”