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Italy: Pakistan’s network of alleged terrorists dismantled

An anti-terrorism operation coordinated by Europol in Italy and elsewhere in Europe has allowed the dismantling of a Pakistani network in connection with an attack in 2020 in front of the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Italian police announced today.

The operation, co-ordinated by the Genoa prosecutor’s office in northern Italy and run by the anti-mafia and anti-terrorism service, resulted in the “arrest of Pakistani citizens”, police said, citing 14 arrest warrants.

The members of this network, “all suspected of setting up a criminal organization aimed at international terrorism”, “are directly linked to Zahir Hassan Mahmoud”.

The latter, a Pakistani citizen, had wounded a man and a woman with a machete in front of the former headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in Paris on September 25, 2020, thinking that he was working for the magazine, which he had moved after the deadly jihadist attack of which he was target in January 2015.

The attack took place during the trial for the January 2015 attack on the newspaper, which had republished sketches of the Prophet Muhammad.

The operation coordinated by Europol also involved the counter-terrorism services of Spain and France under the coordination of the European Counter-Terrorism Center of Europol, the Italian police clarified.

“The investigation has revealed the active presence, in several Italian provinces and in some European countries, of a terrorist cell formed by a large group of young Pakistanis, who were all direct contacts of the perpetrator of the Charlie Hebdo attack,” Italian police added. .

Four Pakistanis, aged 17 to 21, who were in contact with Zahir Hassan Mahmoud, had already been charged in France and imprisoned in December 2020.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

Source: Capital

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