TerrorismEuropean border security agency warns ISIS is manipulating refugees

Frontex has been overwhelmed by number of refugees // Source: theconversation.com

Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency, warned that ISIS may be trying to manipulate refugees into carrying out terrorist attacks in Europe. The border agency said that its officials were also worried about ISIS sneaking in trained fighters among the mass movements of people fleeing war, hunger, and extreme poverty. 

VOA News reports that Frontex stressed that there was a growing need for Europe e to be prepared for the potential dangers.

“Some people might get radicalized or manipulated or used or utilized by terrorist groups after they enter the EU,” Fabrice Leggeri, executive director of Frontex, said, told VOA.

“This is something where I don’t have clear indications.” 

A report from Europol, the EU law enforcement agency, highlighted the vulnerability of refugees to radicalization. 

“Given that it is in the interests of IS [ISIS] to inflame the migration crisis to polarize the EU population and turn sections of it against those seeking asylum, some infiltration of refugee camps and other refugee/migrant groups is likely,” the report said. 

Europol noted that as of April 2016, there have been approximately 300 cases in which ISIS tried to recruit refugees entering Europe.

“ISIS just wants to give itself options,” Robin Simcox, a terrorism and national security analyst with the Heritage Foundation, said. 

“It chimes perfectly with what Isis would want to do. It enables them to extend their foreign operations.”