Alleged Moroccan terrorist arrested in Italy

ROME, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Italian judge on Tuesday ordered the arrest of a Moroccan national who was allegedly willing to carry out a suicide attack.

Local media named the suspect as 29-year-old Nabil Benhamir. He has been in custody in Genoa since August for beating up his former girlfriend, according to Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"Digos (anti-terrorism police) arrest Islamic extremist," State Police tweeted. "Videos of terrorist actions and suicide bombings found on his smartphone."

Italian police credited a joint investigation that began last summer in cooperation with Dutch police, Europol, and the FBI.

Europol retweeted the Italian police tweet, citing "great cooperation" between the various law enforcement agencies across borders.

According to the bench warrant, the suspect is a member of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group. He was "willing to sacrifice himself for IS" and planned to "train other IS members to manufacture and use explosives," ANSA news agency reported.

The judge who signed the warrant wrote that the suspect is a flight risk, had lived in Germany and Holland, and has numerous aliases, La Repubblica newspaper reported.

Unlike other European countries, Italy has so far escaped extremist attacks. Along with its surveillance activities, its policy of preventive deportation of terrorist suspects has been credited with keeping Italy safe, at least until now.

On Dec. 17, the interior ministry said that a 49-year-old Tunisian national was expelled and taken back to his own country "for reasons of national security".

The suspect used to live in Florence, had been jailed for petty crimes, and had been under surveillance since 2004, according to the ministry statement.

Sunday's deportation was the 102th carried out this year, adding up to a total of 234 expulsions of "subjects gravitating in religious extremist areas" since Jan. 1, 2015, the interior ministry said. Enditem