Out of the 28 people identified by PET, 15 had been ordered to repay the money, eight people are still being investigated, while the cases against five of them have been dropped due to lack of evidence.
“It is incredibly important that we are not naive,” AFP quotes Danish Justice Minister Mette Frederiksen as saying when asked about the data, which was found by merging records kept by different authorities.
PET says it is closely watching all Danish citizens who have been taking part in fighting in the Middle East war zones. According to Danish intelligence estimates, at least 100 Danes had gone to the region with half of them returning home.
"I think that many Danes feel to laugh over that one pays cash benefits to persons not resident in Denmark. These are people who go there and fight in a holy war against Danish forces while they receive Danish cash — it can hardly be worse," International Business Times quotes Peter Skaarup, legal draftsman of the Danish People's Party, as saying.