Refugee issues should not blind threat from IS: Spanish interior minister

Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz insisted on Friday that Spain must not allow humanitarian issues with refugees from Syria and Iraq to blind them to the threat posed by the Islamic State (IS).

It was confirmed on Wednesday that Spain will accept 17,680 refugees who have fled from the conflict in Syria and Iraq, but in an interview with right wing radio station Cadena Cope, Fernandez Diaz said the country had to be careful whom they allow in.

"It is urgent to accept refugees, but that has to be done in a way that is compatible with security," said Diaz, who added that the "official goodness" of other parties should not be allowed to lift the "shadows of suspicion," which he believes hangs over the refugees.

There are "threats," warned the minister, who said he had information "about robberies of blank Syrian passports," which could be used by members of DAESH (IS) to help infiltrate Spain or other European nations.

Fernandez Diaz commented that although he was not questioning the EU quota of refugees and that Spain would "accept the refugees that the European Commission has assigned to us," he would insist that "the appropriate measures to guarantee the security that Spanish society requires" would be adopted. Endit