Hat tip Counter Extremism.com
Police in Italy have arrested a Pakistani terror cell linked to Hassan Zaher Mahmood, a 27-year-old Pakistani who was arrested in 2020 in Paris while carrying out a terrorist stabbing attack near the former office of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine that was the object of a bloody terrorist attack in 2015 in retaliation for its publication of cartoons mocking Islam. In this latest police action, 14 people have been taken into custody including one in Spain. The rest were arrested in Italy as they were allegedly planning to carry out a terror attack.
A video mentioned in the below article can be viewed at La Repubblica here. It has no sound but shows a suspect brandishing a machete.
The below article in Gazzetta del Sud is translated from Italian by Fousesquawk.
Genoa, Terrorist cell identified: It was the group that attacked the HQ of Charlie Hebdo
June 7, 2022
A vast anti-terrorist operation by the National Police, coordinated by the National Prosecutor's office in Genoa, with the arrests in Italy and abroad, of Pakistani citizens directly connected to Hassan Zaher Mahmood, the 27-year-old Pakistani, who on September 25, 2020, carried out an attack in Paris in the area of the former HQ of the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.
The details of the operation
The Pakistani terrorist cell identified by the investigators was prepared to buy arms and was recruiting associates in Italy. This has emerged from the investigation by Digos( General Investigation and Special Operations Division) of Genoa and by Anti-terrorism (police) which led to the arrests of 14 persons. "We are going to buy arms in two months, "say the head of the Italian cell and the 33-year-old Pakistani "maestro" to each other. And further, "now we need to go into every city and find those 10 people I need, the more we are, the better.....," they say to each other as they were looking for a place to stay. "Give me two months to work, and we will find our 'Tana' and make our Gabar group here in Italy."
The Italian cell
The Pakistani passed through Chiavari (Genoa), according to the investigating judge, providing his own participatory contribution to the terrorist association, "....promoting the formation of cell located and operating in Italy beginning in April 2021, through the recruitment of associates, the locating of a den (so-called Tana), the acquisition of arms, offering hospitality to associates, maintaining relations and contacts with people at the top of the organization."
At this time there are six under arrest in Italy, and one in Spain in connection with the investigation into the Pakistani terrorist cell taken down by Digos in Genoa and by the Anti-terrorism (police). Two persons were arrested in Genoa, one in Florence, one in the province of Reggio Emilia, one in Bari, one in Treviso, and the last one in Spain.
The documented meetings
From the summer of 2021, the investigators documented numerous meetings between the subjects, which periodically, reached Italian territory, particularly at Fabbrico (Reggio Emilia), where T.Y. settled and found employment. Italy, according to the investigators, was the favored place for logistic support of the Gabar Group.
A circumstance also demonstrated by the arrest at Lodi at the end of September 2021 of Ali Hamza, 19-year-old Pakistani, on a European arrest warrant issued by the anti-terrorism prosecutor of Paris because he was tied to the Charlie Hebdo attacker, at the point of being assigned to disseminate the video claiming responsibility for the attack once it was certain that the project was successful. Lastly, the investigative effort found corroboration in a recent operation in Spain which, in February 2022, led to the arrests of five persons, of whom, at least three (were) in contact with the current subjects and all connected to the Gabar Group.
The compromising videos
In addition, the Pakistani in question was brandishing machetes or knives of large dimensions mimicking together with the others, the "cutting of the throat" on the street or in the residence of the head of the Pakistani terrorist cell taken down by Digos and the Anti-Terrorist (Police). This is what appears on the videos posted on social media. He often appears dressed in a tunic and black headdress as he recites violent texts or while he is in the company of co-nationals.
Refugee status
The 25-year-old Pakistani, leader of the Gabar cell in Italy (and) arrested in connection with the maxi-anti-terrorist operation, coordinated by the Prosecutor's Office of Genoa and by Dda (Anti-Mafia), had obtained refugee status in 2015. The man, residing in Chiavari, had been arrested in France for carrying a weapon and had previous arrests in Italy for facilitating illegal immigration.
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