Tirana, Nov 6 (Tirana Echo) – Several men with strong links to ISIS have been arrested in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia as part of a wider regional operation to cut off terrorist links in the Balkans.
After several months of investigations and constant tapping in an operation which involved several European and regional security agencies, several people have been arrested in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia who were part of a wider regional terrorist network.
Albanian Police have arrested four people with strong links to ISIS mainly from the regions of Dibra and Shkodra who were suspected of recruiting young people in order to send them over to Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS.
Meanwhile in Kosovo, authorities said they arrested five men on terrorism charges after claims that the water supply to its capital Prishtina was being poisoned as part of an ISIS terror plot.
The Albanian Police have been reluctant to share any specific information on the case as an investigation is ongoing, but Tirana Echo has learned that more than 16 people have been detained on terrorist charges while a terrorist network in the making has been destroyed in the Balkans, in what seems to be a major blow to ISIS in the region.
Although Albania is regarded as a fairly safe country from terrorist attacks, its authorities have stepped up their action to monitor and stop any terrorist networks from being established.
Major concerns remain on Kosovo and Macedonia as terrorist activity has alerted security agencies monitoring the region.
In one propaganda video released by the terror group, a man thought to be of Kosovan origin says: “If you can, take poison and put it in their meal or in their drink. Make them die, make them die of poisoning, kill them wherever you are… you can do it.”
It is widely believed that more than 900 ‘foreign fighters’ have travelled from the Balkans to the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq to join ISIS ranks in the past years.
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