“Balkan Connection” Discovered

After a two year long operation, Italian police arrested three men accused of being ISIS recruiters in northern Italy and Albania. One of the men was reported to be of Moroccan ancestry, and the other two are Albanian nationals. The first two were arrested in Turin and the last in his home country near the Albanian capital of Tirana.

The identities of the accused have been released as well; the Moroccan-Italian is twenty year old Elmadhi Halili, suspected of authoring pro-Islamic State propaganda documents. The two Albanians, thirty eight year old Alban Elezi and his nephew Elvis, are accused of actively recruiting militants for Islamic State. An arrest warrant was also issued for Anas el Abboubi, a twenty-two year old Moroccan connected to the three arrested men. El Abboubi was previously accused of training terrorists back in June 2013 but was released due to lack of evidence. However, el Abboubi then went to Syria to fight for Islamic State.

Italian legislators praised the action, citing the effectiveness of the new anti-terrorist laws passed last month. With Islamic State recently making threats towards Europe and Italy in particular, Italians have good reason to be vigilant.