Greek police arrested a 32-year-old Syrian refugee in the northeastern Greek city of Alexandroupolis over suspected links with terrorist group ISIS, police said Friday. The man was arrested a day earlier after his wife filed a complaint over domestic abuse. She also told authorities that her husband was an ISIS supporter. The refugee family illegally came to Greece in June 2016. On his seized mobile phone and two tables police reportedly found footage of horrible torture committed by the ISIS in Syria.
A police official said that the man was arrested for violating a restriction order imposed after his wife accused him of beating her and taking part in “terrorist acts.”
Police searched their home following his wife’s complaint and found data on his phone that they said support the allegations of ISIS links, police said.
“We are investigating his participation, and its extent, in past terrorist acts outside Greece,” police added.
According to Greek media, seizing his mobile phone and two tablets police found evidence and pictures that the Syrian refugee was an active ISIS member. According to newsit.gr, one of the pictures shows him next to a high-ranking ISIS member with direct access to notorious ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Police found videos and pictures showing scenes of horrible torture committed by ISIS extremists including the 32-year-old Syrian suspect.
In one of the videos, the arrested man appears standing in front of ISIS prisoners lying on the ground. He pulls them form the hair so that their faces are seen and captured by the camera. The material was shot in 2012-2013, most probably in Raqqa, Syria. Another video shows the man on a truck together with other ISIS extremists firing shots in the air. Other footage shows executions as wells singing and dance over dead bodies.
According to police, the man confessed that he was active ISIS member, claiming that he disagreed with the organization and fled fearing for his life.
The arrested Syrian refugee on his way to prosecutor. He is expected to give full testimony testify on Monday, writes alexpoli.gr, the local media that first published the arrest of the 32-year-old.
When he was taken to public prosecutor in Friday he claimed that “everything was a lie” and that the footage belonged to friends of his. He and his wife claimed he was member of ISIS only for 2-3 months.
Upon his arrest, the man allegedly attempted to commit suicide and was taken to a local hospital where he remains guarded.
Together with their child, the couple illegally entered Greece in June 2016 through the Evros River, the natural border between Greece and Turkey. The family immediately submitted asylum request in Alexandroupolis. They lived in a refugee camp in Oraiokastro for some time. Later moved into a reception center in Thessaloniki, where the wife complained to a social worker that her husband had abused their child. Ever since the man was under close surveillance by the police.
Media report that after police police read his asylum interview came to the conclusion that the man was an “extremely fanatic Islamist.”
“We are investigating his participation, and its extent, in past terrorist acts outside Greece,” police added.
Police has conducted search into the family’s home in Thessaloniki, but also into a home in Athens where has spent some time. The suspected jihadist was allegedly carefully covering his telephone contacts in the 16 months he has been in Greece.
The name or a photo of the suspected Syrian jihadist was not made public.
Greek but also European authorities investigate whether the man was organizing ‘bloody attacks’ in the time he was in Greece.
