Italy links people trafficking to militants in detention of Syrian
MILAN -- Italy's tax police said they had found a clear link between people trafficking and militants after detaining a Syrian man who entered Italy on a migrant boat who they allege to be a member of the al-Nusra group.
A series of deadly attacks carried out by militants across Europe over the past year have fuelled a debate about how to handle the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees and other migrants propelled by civil war in Syria, Iraq and Libya.
"Today's operation is one of the few investigations which establishes a direct link between people who plan trafficking of migrants and Islamic terrorist organisations," the police said in a statement on Saturday.
The detained man was previously kept in custody for helping smuggle migrants, the police said, adding a probe conducted immediately after his arrival revealed he was responsible for organising and managing the crossing.
Further investigations, an extensive analysis of digital files such as videos and photographs taken from a notebook and phones and questioning of the man showed he was a member of the Jabhat al-Nusra, an al Qaeda offshoot, they allege.
