Syrian refugee detained in Greece on terror charge


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A Syrian refugee has been arrested in northern Greece on terrorism-related charges following a review of his asylum application, police said Friday.

Authorities said the 32-year-old man was detained Thursday in the northeast city of Alexandroupolis as a suspected fighter of the Islamic State group while in Syria.

The man, who hasn't been named, traveled to a Greek island from Turkey last year and lives in the northern city of Thessaloniki with his wife and two children.

He denied the charges and shouted "they are liars" to reporters, before appearing at a public prosecutor's office Friday. He was given until Monday to prepare his defense, but remained in custody.

At his home, the suspect's wife spoke to The Associated Press but asked not to be named because her husband hadn't been formally identified. She didn't comment on the charges, but said: "Daesh is in Syria. Now we are in Greece," using the Arabic term for IS.

Police investigators told the AP that they are examining the suspect's mobile phone and other seized devices to determine whether he was in contact with IS fighters after moving to Greece. They said he had traveled to Greece from neighboring Turkey in June last year, reaching the Greek island of Leros, before moving to the mainland.

European governments fear that Islamic State extremists could hide among the streams of refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Iraq. Many of the fighters in the deadly November 2015 attacks in Paris slipped into Europe on that route with false passports.

There have been a handful of arrests of asylum-seekers linked to IS, including in Germany and Austria, but officials believe the numbers are small. Concern over the threat, however, has contributed to a rightward swing among many European electorates.

More than 60,000 refugees and migrants remain stranded in Greece following European border closures and restrictions last year. The daily number of arrivals to Greek islands has again risen in recent weeks.

___

Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.

___

Follow Costas Kantouris at http://twitter.com/CostasKantouris and Lori Hinnant at http://twitter.com/lhinnant

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent World stories

Related topics

World
Costas Kantouris

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast