Rob Wainwright, head of Europol recently told the EU Home Affairs Sub Committee member that of most concern on the issue of migration on the Mediterranean Sea was "the possibility of a connection with terrorism".
"We’ve not seen the threat manifest itself in a significant way. We‘re very sensitive to signs that networks are infiltrated by Da’esh (ISIL)."
And Michele Coninsx, the EU’s top prosecutor, has admitted receiving information that boats used to smuggle migrants across the Mediterranean are also carrying Islamic fighters. Coninsx said:
"It is an alarming situation because we see obviously that these smugglers are meant to sometimes finance terrorism, that these smugglings are used sometimes to have and ensure exfiltrations and infiltrations of members of Islamic State."
The revelation that potential terrorists are mingling with people smugglers is no surprise. Wikileaks recently revealed classified EU military documents detailing "the potential presence of hostile forces, extremists, or terrorists such as Da'esh [ISIL] should also be taken into consideration".
And now a video broadcast online has emerged showing two men in the Syrian city of Palmyra, clutching assault rifles and urging "brothers and sisters" in Germany and Austria to join IS in Iraq and Syria.
One man, reported in Die Presse newspaper, has been identified as Austrian 'Mohammed M', the son of Egyptian immigrants.
In a direct threat to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 'M' vows to avenge the "blood of Muslims spilled in Afghanistan".
Austria’s Interior Ministry is yet to verify the video but Mohammed M is known to the authorities. In 2007 he was sentenced to four years in prison for forming a terrorist group. On his release in 2011, he fled to Germany and Egypt. Arrested in Turkey but later released, it’s believed he is fighting with IS in Syria.
Its estimated 600 Germans have joined jihadists groups in Syria and Iraq. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence estimate the same number of Britons have also fled the country to join IS. But the actual number is more like 2,000.
Deadly Milestone: Over 2,000 #migrants died so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean http://t.co/yGV2gY28Cj pic.twitter.com/TJNEgfcRa4
— IOM (@IOM_news) August 4, 2015
The total number of migrants arriving in the European Union stands at 187,377 so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. The majority of asylum seekers come from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and North Africa.
Many are fleeing sectarian conflict and Islamic terrorism. They begin their journey in Libya – where IS fighters, from Tunisia and Egypt, have secured a foothold in the coastal town of Sirte.
