Prague, Oct 24 (CTK) – The Czech BIS counter-intelligence service gained information on a man who joined terrorist groups in Libya and Syria last year, the service in its annual report for 2016 it released on Tuesday.
The BIS also obtained details about the contact of a foreigner who lived in the Czech Republic and in 2015, he left to fight for the Islamic State (IS), the report said.
In 2015, the BIS informed about seven people who left for Syria with a view to joining terrorist organisations such as IS. They were from the Islamic world, had a short-term stay here and were not Czechs.
The BIS says these fighters’ return to Europe is a security risk on which it concentrated last year.
“For most returnees from the fighting in Syria and Iraq, the Czech Republic was not their final destination. However, similarly to 2015, it could be used for their transit on to Western Europe,” the report said.
The BIS also monitored the activities of the Iraqis who were closely connected with Saddam Hussein’s former regime. In general, the IS is comprised of the followers of the regime.
In the Czech Republic, there are individuals whose past is connected with the former Iraqi government and security apparatus, the report said.
“Nevertheless, no individual posing a risk to the Czech Republic’s security appeared among them in 2016,” it added.
The service also focused on the activities of the Czechs who joined the support for the Kurdish militias fighting IS.
It described as extremely dangerous the activities of these people who were illegally crossing the borders between Middle East countries.
“If their lives were not directly jeopardised, they were at least threatened with accusation of support for terrorism,” the report said.
“In these cases, the BIS did not find any information on their participation in the activities that can be evaluated as terrorist,” it added.
The terrorism section writes about a few individuals who were inspired by the ideas arising from Islamist ideologies.
“The bearers of these ideas remained isolated with their views and were not provided any chance to spread their attitudes and views in the Czech Muslim community whose moderate character was preserved,” the report said.
Anti-Islam activities, manifested at some public rallies, did not provoke any negative reaction by the Czech Muslim community either, it added.
The BIS also recorded the logistic activity of the Lebanese Hezbollah last year. As Iran is one of its allies, the secret service watched several persons suspected of intelligence work to the benefit of Iran.
The BIS focused on Iranian intelligence services because they were very active in Europe.
It also uncovered suspicious persons in the Czech Republic.
“In 2016, the threat posed by Iran in connection with terrorism in general was not fulfilled, but its chances to attack in Europe remained untouched,” the BIS report said.
It denoted Hezbollah as its major ally which is latently active in Europe.
In the USA, Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organisation and in the EU its military wing.
