Two men were arrested by the Digos security police in Milan on Tuesday in an anti-terrorism operation, prosecutors said. They are accused of criminal association for terrorism.
The men arrested in Milan – an Egyptian and an Italian of Egyptian origin – are accused of criminal association for terrorism and instigation to commit crime for terrorism purposes.
Milan prosecutor Marcello Viola said the suspects were “extremely active in digital propaganda and proselytism on behalf of ISIS”. They had also allegedly “sworn an oath of belonging and loyalty” to the Islamist terror group.
Furthermore, they are accused of financing the causes of the so-called Islamic State.
Islamist radicalisation possible in Italy
There is a risk of Islamist radicalisation in Italy too stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said. His comment followed the murder of a French teacher in Arras last week and two Sweden fans in Brussels Monday night, by Islamist ‘lone wolves’.
“One of the main factors triggering migrant flows is armed conflicts,” he told the House. “And in this moment at the gates of Europe, there are two, the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both uncertain and susceptible to provoking an impact on the dynamics of the flows.
“Without forgetting the conflict in the Middle East brings with it also the risk of triggering Islamist radicalisations like just a few days ago happened in France with the murder of a teacher by an Islamist fanatic and last night in Brussels with the killing of two Swedish citizens.”
Alleged murderer of Swedes landed on Lampedusa
The suspected Islamist who attacked and killed two Sweden fans in Brussels Monday night landed at Lampedusa on a small boat in 2011, ANSA sources said Tuesday.
The Tunisian man, Abdesalem Lassoued, left for Sweden after being in Italy for some time. He was later expelled from Sweden and came back to Italy in 2016. Then he was flagged up by security police DIGOS in Bologna as radicalised, the sources said. He had voiced a desire to join in jihad fighting.
Lassoued was also monitored by Italian intelligence. He later left for Belgium, but was photographed in Genoa in 2021.
It is not to be ruled out, police sources said, that he decided to strike back at Sweden because it had expelled him.
