Milano, 28-year-old Moroccan arrested for incitement to commit a crime with terrorist purposes.

The State Police of Milano ha executed a precautionary custody order in prison issued by the GIP at the Court of Milano, towards a twenty-eight year old Moroccan citizen, with a police record for crimes against the person, property and drug-related offences, which have never been highlighted in contexts of interest up to now, pfor the crime of incitement to commit a crime for the purpose of terrorism and also investigated for association for the purpose of international terrorism.

The investigation, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Milano and conducted by the DIGOS police officers of Milano – International Anti-Terrorism Section in synergy with the Service for the Countering of Extremism and External Terrorism of the Central Directorate of the Prevention Police, originates from a complaint filed in November last year for threats received on an Instagram profile.

Deputy Police Commissioner Beniamino Manganaro – State Police

The first investigations aimed at identifying the author of the threatening phrases have made it possible to trace the arrested man, whose social profiles, especially following the worsening of the Middle Eastern crisis, were characterised by a crescendo of publications of a markedly radical and anti-Western nature, going as far as threatening acts of violence against those who "depart from the path of Allah".

The “observant Muslim and a mujahid (fighter)”

Subsequent investigations, conducted through technical activities including telematics, have further confirmed that the arrested person, although accepted and employed as a cultural mediator in some reception communities for foreigners, so be it raised in a context of Western values, he suddenly changed his attitude, denied his recent past, became particularly active on social networks and publicly defined himself “observant Muslim and a mujahid (fighter)”, was evidently in an advanced stage of ideological-religious radicalization, declaring himself willing to embrace Jihad for the cause of God and to die to defend his faith and his brothers and affirming on several occasions that he is the incarnation of the messenger “Al Mahdi” – the Islamic Messiah, lit. The “guided by Allah”, which in the Islamic tradition is destined to restore religion and justice before the end of the world” even identifying himself with the promised savior who will conquer the entire world, he will exterminate all the infidels who will not convert to Islam, will ensure that the precepts of the Muslim religion are observed in their entirety in the ritual, juridical and social fields, will eradicate heresies and fill the world with justice.

The videos, the weapons and the contempt towards the West

And among the contents viewed on the web by the suspect, videos relating to the Handling of firearms and several radical and extremist publications have been sent, accompanied by open declarations of contempt, to the official profiles of various institutional personalities of the Western and Arab world, allegedly guilty of supporting the State of Israel.

Radicalization and the Journey to Jordan and Saudi Arabia

Symptomatic of the radicalization process underway are the circumstances in which the arrested man spoke of going to die with the soldiers, of dying as a martyr, and the booking of a plane ticket to travel shortly to Jordan and then to Saudi Arabia, where he had already gone on a pilgrimage last January.

And he also contacts a fellow countryman who has already been expelled from Italy for security reasons and is also under investigation for terrorism-related crimes and expresses appreciation (with the addition of a like) towards posts and videos published by others but with similar content and/or expressive of his political-ideological beliefs. Emblematic is the post “like” placed on the profile of the above-mentioned fellow countryman published two days after the attack claimed by ISIS-K in Russia, last March, containing a verse from Surah An-Nisa in order to encourage people to follow his path.

Incitement to terrorism and the dangerousness of the subject

The GIP, in recognizing the worrying path of ideological-religious radicalization of the arrested person, constantly engaged in proselytism, incitement and apology of crimes with terrorist purposes, underlined the danger that the same, also in consideration of the delicate work activity carried out, could concretely influence a distorted vision of Islam in vulnerable young people, recognizing, at the same time, an evident risk of contamination of evidence.