ISIL Terrorists Smuggled to Europe

The ISIL fighters are being smuggled into Europe by gangs in the Mediterranean, a Libyan official disclosed.

Libyan Government Adviser Abdul Basit Haroun told the BBC that smugglers were hiding the ISIL terrorists on boats filled with migrants.

He based his claim on conversations with boat owners in parts of North Africa controlled by the militants.

He alleged that the ISIL was allowing them to continue their operations in exchange for 50% of their income.

The UN estimates that 60,000 people have already tried to cross the Mediterranean this year.

The ISiL operates in several parts of Libya, including the Eastern city of Derna.

More than 1,800 people are feared to have died making the journey in often overcrowded and unseaworthy boats in 2015 – a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 live Investigates, Haroun said the ISIL used “the boats for their people who they want to send to Europe as the European police don’t know who is from the ISIL and who is a normal refugee or not”.

The militants often sat separately from the other migrants and were not scared of the crossing, he said.

Haroun added that the ISIL allowed boat owners to operate – but demanded a 50% cut of whatever they made from each ship.