XPost: 24hoursupport.helpdesk, alt.politics.scorched-earth, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: uk.legal, alt.politics.uk   
   From: burfordTjustice@tues.uk   
      
   Smuggling Migrants to Europe Now a Major Funding Source for Islamic   
   State   
      
   Islamist terror groups including Islamic State are now getting much of their   
   revenue from smuggling migrants into Europe, Italy’s intelligence chief has   
   said.    
   Information gathered by intelligence agencies shows that criminal gangs in   
   Africa who work to traffick migrants into Europe have developed    
   €œpartnershipsâ€� with terrorist organisations in the Middle East including   
   Islamic State, Alessandro Pansa told    
   La Stampa on Tuesday.   
      
   â€œISIS is facing serious setbacks. Its biggest sources of income —   
   smuggling oil products and antiquities, are at the edge of drying out. We   
   think terrorists are resorting to human trafficking as a new source of   
   revenue,â€� Pansa told the newspaper.   
      
   Pansa, the Director General of the Department of Information Security,   
   revealed the intelligence agency’s findings at a talk in Naples about Africa   
   and the ‘risks and opportunities’ of immigration.   
      
   Describing the involvement of Islamic terror groups in human trafficking as a   
   major challenge for Italy, the security chief said it’s vital that Italy   
   works with governments in Africa to “attack at the roots of the migration   
   phenomenonâ€�.   
      
   Reuters reported on Monday that the Italian government has set up a fund to   
   help African nations seal their external borders and help stem the flow of   
   migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.   
      
   Pansa refused to give an opinion on actions taken by President Donald J. Trump   
   to help protect the U.S. against terror attacks — suspending immigration of,   
   and issuing visas to, citizens of seven countries.   
      
   However, Italy’s intelligence agencies are not surprised the new president   
   has pushed forward with migration policies promised on the campaign trail   
   according to the security chief, who added: “We were expecting it.â€�   
      
   Nearly 400,000 migrants reached Europe by sea in 2016, and more than 5,000 are   
   believed to have died attempting the journey, aid agencies estimate.   
      
   In 2015 the then Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, urged the European   
   Union (EU) to turn boats back to Africa, saying: “If you want to keep life   
   safe, you’ve got to keep the boats stopped.â€�   
      
   â€œThe great thing about Operation Sovereign Borders is that, in stopping the   
   boats, we have stopped the deaths,â€� he added.   
      
   However, European Commission spokesman Natasha Bertaud said the Australian   
   model “can never be a modelâ€� for the EU, as it would violate international   
   obligations.   
      
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