Terrorism: six people arrested for Jihad. One arrest in Varese

Six arrests for terrorism (four have already been carried out). A network of Caliphate sympathisers, between Varese and Lecco, has been discovered by the District Attorney’s Office in Milan. The investigation focused on foreign fighter enrolment, and the presence of Moroccans connected through a network that leads to Syria is the criminal context that was discovered.

There is also a Moroccan citizen resident in Varese Province among those arrested during the antiterrorist operation carried out in collaboration with the National Anti-mafia Prosecutor’s Office. He is 23-year-old Abderrahmane Khachia, a resident of Brunello and the brother of Oussama Khachia, who was expelled from Italy in 2015.

The investigation followed three lines, although there is only one organisation. The first concerned Oussama Khachia, a welder who was expelled from Brunello in January 2015, who then entered Switzerland, because he was married to a Swiss woman.

When he was also expelled from Switzerland, “he took part in a battle in Islamic State territory, and died probably during a battle,” the magistrates explained during the press conference in Milan. “His death ensured that some people became more radical in his honour.” His death was announced in December, by his own relatives.

The second line concerned a couple from Lecco: Mohamed Koraichi and Adele Brignoli, who, according to the investigations carried out by the Special Operations Team, the Italian Secret Service and the Central Office for General Investigations and Special Operations, left for the Caliphate, taking their two children away from Bulciago, near Lecco.

The third line concerned a Moroccan athlete, Moutaharrik Abderrahim, a top kickboxer with connections to both Oussama Khachia and Koraichi, near Lecco. This man decided to leave Italy and join the Islamic State. Moutaharrik also used Koraichi and Oussama Khachia’s network, and apparently reached the Islamic State thanks to Koraichi, who, today, is fighting at the front. The other two arrested are Koraichi’s sister, who lives in Baveno, near Verbania, and the kickboxer’s wife.

According to the judges, they are all potential suicide bombers; they are dangerous because of their training for Jihad and their connection with the Caliphate. The network includes the search for lone wolves, solitary men and women, who can become instruments of terrorism for ISIS.

ROLES
The promoter is apparently Koraichi, from Lecco, who is already experienced, following a number of visits to Syria. In the case of Khachia, from Brunello, he is probably easier to influence, because his ideology is less strong, following the death of his brother, who had declared his willingness to go to the Islamic State.