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Italy arrests 13 in high-speed migrant trafficking ring

Customs Police in Sicily said Tuesday that a wiretapped conversation between two traffickers revealed one saying he intended to travel to France and carry out a suicide attack and asking for prayers.

The trafficking group allegedly organized transport from the Tunisian port of Nabeul to Trapani in Sicily aboard rubber dinghies equipped with high-speed outboard motors and trained navigators for 3,000 euros ($3,690) to 5,000 euros per person.

The traffickers also carried contraband cigarettes for a total value per trip of up to 70,000 euros, with the capacity to run two trips a week. Police said the suspects were Italian, Tunisian and Moroccan.

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Italian anti-terrorism police arrest Moroccan planning truck attack

Italian anti-terrorism police on Wednesday arrested an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin who they said was an Islamic State sympathiser planning a truck attack.

It was the latest in a series of arrests this month involving suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism and came as Italy stepped up the number of foreigners it expels.

Elmahdi Halili, 23, arrested in the northern city of Turin, “was studying how to prepare a truck for an attack”, Francesco Messina, the city’s police chief said.

“He was learning how to use a knife and looking into where and how to attack.” Assailants in London carried out three vehicle attacks last year. In 2016, militants mowed down scores of people in Nice and Berlin.

Police said Halili received a two-year suspended prison term in 2015 for “instigating terrorism” by running a website praising Islamic State and hailing the attacks it or its supporters perpetrated in Europe.

It was not immediately possible to seek comment from Halili or anyone representing him. “The terrorist risk is very high,” said Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, which is in talks to form a government after the inconclusive March 4 election.

 

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In Italy’s elections, the fascists did scarily well

Italy’s elections may have ended in a political deadlock, no one party or alliance gained the 40% necessary to have an absolute Parliamentary majority , but the projected results of the vote signal that sweeping changes are on the horizon, changes that don’t bode well for liberal democracy.

The governing center-left Democratic Party received just 19% of Italians’ votes (a historic low) while anti-EU, populist and far-right parties like the Five Star Movement and the rabidly anti-immigrant League did very well (32% and 17.5%, respectively).

That former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia party (14%) are now seen as moderate shows how far the country that had Western Europe’s most robust political left for a century has shifted to the right.

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CounterTerrorism: jailed three students, they arrived in Turin as university students

In the early hours of today, Saturday 24 February, the ROS Carabinieri arrested three Tunisian citizens, all accused of association aimed at international terrorism.

They are Nafaa Afli, 27, Bilel Mejri, 26, and Marwen Ben Saad, 31. The arrest was issued by the Court of Turin.

The restrictive provision arises from the elements collected in the context of the activities conducted by Ros in the context of a survey called “Taliban” and coordinated by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office, in the context of the prevention and fight against the phenomenon of “foreign fighters” and “lone” wolves. “

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Italy migrant shootings on Macerata city

A far extremist suspected of shooting six Africans in a racially motivated attack in Italy was “lucid and determined, aware of what he had done” and showed no remorse, police have said.

Luca Traini, 28, was arrested on suspicion of multiple counts of attempted murder aggravated by “racial hatred” following the drive-by attack in the central city of Macerata.

Five men and one woman were wounded in the two-hour shooting spree on Saturday night. They were from Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia and Mali.

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Italy, two cement mixers heading for the TAP site brought to a halt by anarchists

Anarchist FAI cell in Italy theu did sent following message: “On 4th January 2018 about a hundred demonstrators blocked two Minermix cement mixers heading towards the TAP yard. The road block began at 5pm and managed to intercept two vehicles at crossroads between Melendugno and San Foca.

The block went on until 7.30pm. A couple of demonstrators also climbed on to the roof of one of the trucks and occupied it as the cement mixers’ water tanks leaked their contents on to the road. All attempts by police, carabinieri and finance police to clear a passageway proved fruitless.

When it became clear that the concrete was unusable the victorious demonstrators left of their own initiative. If cement is mixed for too long it cannot be used (normally after two hours). In fact the vehicles didn’t go on to the site but returned to their premises to pour out their cargo, now unfit for use.

We also believe that the company got a fright, because a prolonged stop of vehicles can result in even more damage if the concrete solidifies inside a cement mixer. At the moment work is being done at the TAP site to prepare the thrust shaft for the micro tunnel. From there a mechanical mole will dig under the beach to reach the pipe from Albania. Concrete is being used to consolidate the soil with buried “securing poles”, required to define the basin perimetre of the well.

This part of the work of devastation has been granted to SAIPEM (ENI group), which has been operating for a month with local companies such as Minermix of Galatina (Lecce) and Donato Coricciati Srl of Martano (Lecce), as well as I.CO.P. SpA of Udine. They are recruiting more staff through the job agency Adecco

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Police arrest 160 mobsters in Italy and Germany, seize $60 million in mafia assets

Police in Italy and Germany seized 50 million euros, or about $60 million, in mafia assets Tuesday and arrested more than 160 people, accusing them of running a huge mob-controlled commercial and political empire involving everything from bread and wine sales to funeral services, migrant housing and garbage recycling.

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Qatari royals’ jewels stolen from Venice exhibition

Jewellery belonging to the Qatari royal family’s collection has been stolen from a Venice exhibition.

The exhibition, entitled Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajahs, brought together hundreds of Indian gems from the 16th to 20th Centuries.

It was due to close on Wednesday evening.

The items are believed to be worth several million euros, police said, but they may be difficult to sell on the black market because of their fame.

Police have launched an investigation into the theft.

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Moroccan-Italian female foreign fighter arrested in Malpensa

A Moroccan-Italian woman who has been arrested by DIGOS anti-terrorism police.

The 35-year-old woman, named only by the initials R.M., reportedly went to Syria with her three small children for the love of an extremist from the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, whom she had met online.

She was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on Dec. 23 on an international warrant from France, where the Italian father of her children lives and where he had reported her missing.

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Italy: Moroccan ready to ‘self immolate’ for ISIS

Genoa judge has issued a new arrest warrant for 29-year-old Nabil Benhamir, who has been in prison for months in relation to allegations of violence against his former partner.

Benhamir is suspected of being a “major figure” in ISIS who returned to Europe “with the aim of training other members of the Islamic State to produce and use explosives“, according to prosecutors.

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