Arrest of terror figure hidden among migrant arrivals not cause for alarm, experts say

Italian police announced this week they had arrested a Tunisian national connected to terror organizations after he entered Italy as part of a group of migrants, but experts said it would be wrong if the case sparked fears that dangerous terrorists could be slipping into Europe among waves of refugees.

Police in Sicily said this week that in October they arrested Mehdi Ben Nasr, who had been sentenced to seven years behind bars in 2008 in connection with planned terror attacks from groups thought to have connections to al-Qaeda. Ben Nasr was expelled from Italy upon his release from the high-security Benevento Prison.

But Italian officials said Ben Nasr tried to sneak back into Italy a month ago, using a fake name -- Mohamed Ben Sar -- and claiming to be an asylum seeker trying to make his way to northern Europe to reconnect with relatives.

He was easily identified when the fingerprints taken upon Ben Nasr's arrival on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa matched those taken when he was in prison.

Angelino Alfano, Italy's minister of the interior said repeatedly that there was no evidence Islamic extremists were sneaking into Europe amid the arrival of migrants and that Italian border officials were constantly on the lookout for suspicious arrivals.

Marco Amuso, a Sicilian State Police official involved with processing migrants when they arrive, said the arrest of Ben Nasr was proof Italian border measures work.

"He tried to sneak in and he was identified and arrested," Amuso told Xinhua. "It shows the system works. There is no reason this should make people concerned."

Sabrina Magris, a security expert and president of the Ecole Universitaire International and the Institute for Peace and Security, said it made much more sense for a potential terror figure to try to enter Europe by land or through commercial transport than amongst refugees where the figure was sure to be closely monitored.

Magris did allow that for an unknown extremist, it could be easier to sneak into Italy and Europe amid the tide of refugees and asylum seekers, though even then she said the strategy was full of risks. But for a known figure like Ben Nasr, the strategy made little sense.

"I think what happened may illustrate the level Mehdi Ben Nasr has been reduced to, and not to any kind of an increased terror threat," Magris said in an interview.

"Ben Nasr was an important, wanted figure in 2007 and 2008, but the nature of terrorism has changed a great deal since then," Magris continued. Endit