Role played by European intelligence agencies in keeping terrorists away from refugee camps

Noura Bendari

The ability of terrorists, masquerading as refugees, to sneak into refugee camps in European states is a serious problem facing intelligence agencies in these states.

Once inside the camps, the terrorists try to recruit the refugees inside, capitalizing on their tough living and economic conditions.

European countries took measures to stop this, with some of these countries refusing to receive refugees. Around 1.6 million refugees arrived in Europe between 2014 and 2016, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

The flow of refugees into Europe has been scary to European governments and peoples. There is belief among Europeans that an uninterrupted flow of refugees will lead to the Islamization of the European continent. Some European governments also found out that those perpetrating terrorist attacks in them arrived in their countries as refugees.

Terrorists seeping into refugee camps

Refugee camps are present in around 125 states around the world. There is a general belief that the refugee camps are there for a limited period of time. There is another belief that the refugee camps are secure places.

Nonetheless, the same camps can be a fertile soil for terrorism. A little less than half of those present in refugee camps around the world are younger than 18 years old. These are easy targets for terrorist organizations.

The fact that most of the refugees have arrived from conflict zones, such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, makes the recruitment of these refugees a facile matter for terrorist organizations. Most refugees are poor and suffer traumas related to what they had been through in their countries.

Terrorist groups also work hard to spread their ideas inside refugee camps, using frustration among the refugees.

Terrorist groups like Daesh capitalize on the fact that the refugees are unknown to security agencies in which the refugee camps are located, according to a recent study.

The presence of poor security measures on the borders of European states also helped terrorists to masquerade as refugees. Some refugees also use fake passports to enter European countries. This accounts for the ability of a large number of terrorists to enter these states. They pose as refugees and asylum-seekers.

In October 2018, Greek authorities traced 120 extremists who entered Greece as part of a wave of refugees arriving in the country. Greek authorities succeeded in pinpointing these extremists by listening to complaints from proper refugees about the conduct of these 120 people.

On October 3, 2015, a Turkish ship, carrying 200 refugees, anchored on the coast of the Greek island of Leros. Among the 200 refugees, there were two Daesh members who had fake Syrian passports. The two Daesh members carried out an attack on a soccer stadium in French capital Paris in November of the same year.

The same Greek island received several terrorists who later staged attacks in different areas in Europe. They included Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of a series of terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015.

In January 2016, Europol said Daesh had set up training camps in the Balkans, very close to Europe. The terrorist organization, it said, prepared special combat forces to stage attacks in the United Kingdom and other states. It added that the group can recruit refugees and turn them into lone-wolves because of rampant desperation among the refugees. German authorities referred, meanwhile, to 300 attempts by terrorist groups to recruit refugees and turn them into fighters within their own ranks.

Intelligence agencies pinpointing terrorists

Some European states are now afraid to offer support to asylum-seekers, even those states that signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.

European intelligence agencies warned in the past months that Daesh’s defeat in Syria and Iraq would encourage it to ask its elements to infiltrate European countries, especially among refugees arriving in these countries.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the internal intelligence agency in Germany, has been actively warning against the presence of terrorists among refugees. In July 2017, the office referred to hundreds of attempts by Salafist and Islamist groups to recruit refugees at refugee camps. It called on German security agencies to formulate plans to stop these attempts.

Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution President Hans-Georg Maassen said extremist Salafist groups use rampant frustration among the refugees and their inability to be part of their new society in recruiting those refugees.

This, he said, was most clear in Bavaria and the North Rhine-Westphalia states. He added that the Salafists attracted young people in the camps by collecting donations for them.

Investigations by the German intelligence showed that most of those who carried out attacks in Germany were Arabs, especially from Syria. Some of these people, it said, received training in Syria, before they entered Germany among refugees and asylum-seekers as of 2015.

In April 2017, Germany authorities arrested a Syrian national in Bavaria, southern Germany, on suspicions of recruiting refugees in a Greek refugee camp for the sake of Islamist groups in Europe.

The German intelligence also referred to a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated NGO that operates a mosque in Rastatt town in the Upper Rhine Plain. It said the NGO works to infiltrate German states. The German intelligence added that the NGO has 13,000 members and has activities in almost all German states.

This is one reason why the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution maintains cooperation with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The latter notifies the former about refugees suspected to be extremists.

In September 2018, the German government revealed that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had sent more than 10,000 alerts to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution about suspected asylum-seekers. It said in 2015, the office had sent 600 alerts only.

Measures

If this says anything, it says that European intelligence agencies are aware of the successes terrorists scored in infiltrating European societies among refugees and asylum-seekers. This raises questions about the action that should be taken to prevent these terrorists from achieving their goals both in the short and long run. European intelligence agencies took the following measures to do this:

1 – Enlist help from private security firms

Some European governments enlisted the services of private security firms to guard refugee camps. The Austrian government signed a contract with a private Swiss security firm to manage the refugee camps in Austria. The same firm manages refugee camps in Switzerland. Another private security firm manages the main refugee camps in Greece.

In Germany, private security firms have more than 235,000 people working for them. These private security workers acquire greater importance with the number of refugees flowing to Germany exceeding a million in 2015. In the coming months and years, European states are expected to enlist the services of more private security firms to protect their own security and stability.

2 – Reconsider border security measures

The ability of terrorists to move freely between France and Belgium has stirred up debates on the Schengen Agreement. This was why France and other states beefed up security measures along their borders.

3 – Communication with refugees

Some states approached the refugees in order to get information about extremists who might be hiding amongst them. The German domestic intelligence launched a hotline to receive complaints from refugees about the presence of extremists in refugee camps.

4 – Reformulate refugee registration processes

Some European governments upgraded refugee registration procedures to be more capable of monitoring the movement of these refugees. The German intelligence agency demanded an extra funding of 73 million Euros to monitor internet and social media sites. The German media also revealed plans by the German intelligence to eavesdrop on telecommunications.

5 – Cooperation among intelligence agencies

European intelligence agencies launched a virtual network for the exchange of information and the coordination of intelligence activities. These efforts were stepped up, especially after the Paris attacks.