Two people suspected to have links with the ISIS have been arrested in Alexandroupoli town in Northern Greece, near the Greek-Turkish borders. The two men were holders of Swedish passports and had one machete and military uniforms in their luggage. One is of Yemen origin and one from Bosnia.
The arrests have set the European authorities on alert, as the man from Bosnia has been known to have connections with the Al-Qaida in the Balkans.
The man from Bosnia, 29 years old. Pictures exclusively obtained by local media Alexpoli.gr
The man was arrested in 2005 as local police had found during an operation in his home explosives, a belt with explosives and a video threatening bombs attacks against the US White House and the Capitol. He was reportedly convicted to 14 years imprisonment. he served part of his punishment.
According to private ANT1 TV, “He traveled to Sweden where he sought and was granted political asylum.”
Also the man from Yemen is allegedly known to European authorities.
Their names are: Mirsad Bektasevic, 29, from Bosnia and Αl Hasani Amer, 20, from Yemen.
Citing police sources, Greek media report that the two men arrived at Eleftherios Venizelos airport in Athens coming from another country – this country has not been initially named. Citing a BBC-report, state ERT TV said that the two men flew from Copenhagen to Athens on 23rd January and that they arrived to Alexandroupoli on January 26th 2016.
The two men moved from Athens towards the north of the country with the bus with the intention to enter Turkey and later join the ISIS forces in Syria. they were arrested during a police control in Alexandroupoli, apparently while they were trying to get on a bus to Turkey.
It is still not clear whether the two were carrying one or two machetes, but allegedly the one was 33 cm long, similar to those used by the ISIS to kill their victims. According to some other media, there had two machetes, 23 and 24 cm long.
They face felony charges for ‘possession of military equipment to be provided to terror organizations.”
It is also not clear, for how long they had been wandering around with the machetes in their luggage and where did they obtain the machetes from. Abroad? Then how couldn’t they be found at airport luggage controls. In Greece? Did they buy them or some accomplice hand them out to them?
PS how can a convicted terrorist get political asylum? Only Sweden should know…. unless it does not recognize Bosnia as a state of law and has doubts on its justice procedures, right?.
