Last month, Italian authorities arrested an al-Qaeda leader who tried to smuggle himself into Europe as a refugee, and then attempted to hide the news of the arrest, The Daily Mail reported. Mehdi Ben Nasr, 38, is a former terror convict who served seven years in jail for recruiting and training suicide bombers who were later sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nasr was arrested in Europe in 2007 and served his sentence in an Italian jail, before being deported back to Tunisia last year. When police arrested him back then, they found explosives, detonators, and al-Qaeda training manuals.
There have been warnings that terrorists would attempt to enter Europe posing as refugees, and Nasr's case is the second time a known terrorist has been apprehended trying to get into Europe, according to WND.
A German TV Channel, Channel N-TV, claimed that Italian authorities arrested Nasr on Oct. 4, but tried to hide the news of his arrest, fearing that such a disclosure would provide fodder for the political opponents of Europe's migration policies.
Nasr allegedly tried to hide in the midst of 200 other immigrants who were rescued by an Italian Navy ship off the shores of Sicily, according to Breitbart.
He gave a false name, but Italian authorities uncovered his real identity from fingerprint records. The fact that Nasr, who has bomb making experience, tried to get inside Europe would be a cause of alarm for many.
Earlier this year, the leader of UK Independent Party, Nigel Farage, warned the European Parliament that terrorists would take advantage of the refugee crisis facing Europe.
"When ISIS say they want to flood our continent with half a million Islamic extremists they mean it, and there is nothing in [the Common European Asylum Policy] that will stop them," Farage said.
He also warned that refugees coming to Europe were a threat to European way of life.
"I fear we face a direct threat to our civilization if we allow large numbers of people from that war torn region into Europe," he added.
