Italy arrests five Tunisian men in 'vast anti-terrorism operation'

Police say the detainees have ties to Anis Amri, the Tunisian man who in 2016 killed 12 people in Berlin after driving a truck into a Christmas market.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

29 March, 2018

Anti-terrorism police checking papers in Rome

Anti-terrorism police in Rome checking ID [Getty]

Italian police arrested five Tunisians on Thursday as part of a "vast anti-terrorism operation" in Rome and the nearby town of Latina, police said in a statement..

The five Tunisian men are suspected of ties to Anis Amri, the Tunisian man who killed 12 people in Berlin after driving a truck into a Christmas market in December 2016.

Italian police shot dead Amri near Milan five days later.

Prosecutors say the five men arrested on Thursday are suspected of planning terror attacks, falsifying documents and facilitating the illegal immigration of radicalised youth.

Sources Reuters spoke to said there was no evidence the five men were involved in the Berlin truck attack or plotting any act of violence on Italian soil.

During Thursday's police operation, raids were carried out in Rome and Naples as well as the towns of Latina, Viterbo, Caserta and Matera.

Italian police have stepped up their arrests of terror suspects in recent months. On Wednesday, anti-terrorism police also arrested an Italian man of Moroccan descent for allegedly planning a truck attack.

Italy's Interior Minister Marco Minniti said the risk of terrorism is higher than ever in the country because foreign fighters are trying to return to Europe through Italy.

The Islamic State group has suffered a number of military defeats in Syria and Iraq that some observers say will push them to open up new fronts elsewhere.

Twenty-nine foreigners, most of them Muslims, have been deported from Italy so far this year.

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