Europol: 800 People from the Western Balkans are in the Ranks of Islamic State

Islamic state militants from EU member states are more 1,000 and 800 of them are from the Western Balkan countries. This was a conclusion from the meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group held on 19^th of March in Sofia. Fight against terrorism, organized crime and cyber security are the topics discussed by MPs, EU commissioners and experts at the National Palace of Culture in the framework of the fourth event of the parliamentary dimension of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Over 130 MPs from the member states, police cooperation experts and commissioners are in the National Palace of Culture to discuss Europol's next multiannual programme as well as its external action strategy.

One of the main conclusions of the Europol reports is that the Western Balkans remain a major transit and trafficking area of illegal goods, drugs and weapons as well as human beings. The region is also a major source of radicalised young men who join the Islamic State. The big issue, according to police experts, now that the Islamic State experiences a military loss, these fighters may start returning to their countries. This is where the role of Europol is to identify and neutralise these men. The good news is that the European offices and the Europol member states have deepened their cooperation and use the common information databases.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Chair of the Committee on Internal Security and Public Order at Bulgaria’s Pareliment said that the Western Balkans were a region of strategic importance for the European Union. They are not just neighbours of Europe but in the heart of the EU. For the security of the entire continent, it is vital not to leave white spots on the map of Europe that can create vacuum conditions and create zones of influence from other factors of the geopolitical map. This is a political reading of the situation in the region. But the situation in this region also has many pragmatic solutions in the area of security, the fight against smuggling of goods and drugs, the fight against trafficking in human beings, the prevention of radicalization and work on the identification of returning foreign fighters who had served in the ranks of ISIS, he said.

Oldřich Martinů. Deputy Executive Director of Europol said that in the Western Balkans there was radicalisation among the population, but in comparison to previous years, the number of foreign fighters in Syria were less. So far, about 800 people have travelled to conflict zones in Syria and Iraq to join the “Islamic State”. The Islamic movements are interconnected across the region and with the Member States through their diasporas there. We play our part in the region by supporting operations to intercept arms and drug trafficking and fight against terrorism, he added.

We are exchanging information to increase our support for Member States, Rob Wainwright, Executive Director of Europol said. They prevent crime as a result of the exchange of information. Last year, we had 1,500 operations, which we supported; 19,000 operational reports; 113 days of various police activities. There has been a significant increase in our work in recent years, he added.

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