The Iraqi Kurdish recruitment ring radicalised prospects and sent them to fight in Iraq and Syria
Law enforcement authorities of Europe announced on Thursday they had
broken up a Norway-based Iraqi Kurdish recruitment ring that radicalised
prospects via the Internet and sent them to fight in Iraq and Syria
alongside the Islamic State group. Police in six European countries
arrested at least 15 suspected members of the militant group, Italian
authorities said.
They said the militants planned to strike Norwegian and British
diplomats in West Asia and politicians in Norway but gave no further
information about the potential targets or the time frame for any
attacks.
Police in Oslo said there had never been a “concrete or acute threat”
against any Norwegian citizens or interests. The early-morning raids
targeted the Rawti Shax group, which police said was a Kurdish Sunni
Muslim group dedicated to overthrowing the government of Iraq’s
Kurdistan region and replacing it with rule by sharia (Islamic law).
Italy’s national Carabinieri police led the investigation, with security
forces in Italy, Britain, Norway, Finland, Germany and Switzerland
taking part in Thursday’s swoop.
“This was an incredibly difficult and complicated investigation that has
been going on for five years,” said prosecutor Franco Roberti, the head
of Italy’s anti-mafia and anti-terrorism unit.
A total of 17 arrest warrants were issued, almost all for Iraqi Kurds,
and 15 suspects were picked up immediately. One of those wanted was
believed to be in Iraq, while it was not yet clear whether another
suspect had been found in Switzerland.
All of them face international terrorism charges, the Italy’s Carabinieri police said in a statement.
Italian Carabinieri General Giuseppe Governale called it “the most important police operation in Europe in 20 years.”
Italian authorities said the ideological leader of the ring was
Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, known as Mullah Krekar, who is in prison in
Norway. He had been a founder of the now-defunct Ansar al-Islam
insurgent group of Sunni Kurds, which aimed to install an Islamic
caliphate in Iraqi Kurdistan and merged with the Islamic State group
last year.
Once living in exile in Norway, Ahmad formed another group, Rawti Shax,
to educate a new generation of Iraqi Kurds in Europe to eventually
return to violently overthrow the government in the Iraqi Kurdish region
and replace it with a radical caliphate, Italian police said in a
statement.
Ahmad’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjar Meling, told reporters in Norway
“suspicions against Krekar have largely been based on false
accusations.”
The emergence of the Islamic State group provided Rawti Shax with a
training ground, and at least six people were recruited to fight in Iraq
and Syria, Italian officials told a news conference. At least two died
in the region.
Police said Rawti Shax created a virtual university online to radicalize
potential recruits, and a secret committee discussed attacks against
Norwegian diplomats and lawmakers to negotiate Ahmad’s freedom.
Norwegian officials, however, said there were no specific threats
against Norwegians.
Ahmad was sentenced last month to 18 months in jail in Norway for
praising the slaying of cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper
Charlie Hebdo, which had lampooned Islam and other religions. He was
also found guilty of urging others to kill a Kurdish immigrant in
Norway.
Earlier this year, Ahmad was freed after nearly three years’
imprisonment for making death threats. The 59-year-old Kurd, who came to
Norway as a refugee in 1991, was convicted in 2005 for a similar
offense. Norway and the United States have accused Ahmad of financing
Ansar al-Islam.
“If this means that Krekar leaves Norway, that’s fine,” said Norwegian
Prime Minister Erna Solberg, speaking from Valettta, Malta, where she
was taking part in a European Union summit on the migrant crisis.
The Norwegian suspects face a court hearing Friday in Oslo pending a
possible deportation to Italy, said a spokeswoman for Norway’s security
service PST, Siv Alsen.
“We will facilitate so such an extradition is done as fast as possible,” said Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen. 
No comments:
Post a Comment