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Italian Police track down terrorist in Terracina

A 40-year-old Tunisian citizen residing in France who escaped from a psychiatric center in Bassens on May 29 and entered Italian territory a few days later was tracked down in an apartment in Terracina, in the province of Latina.

The man, wanted in the Schengen area, is being investigated in that country for condoning terrorism and aggravated threats, as well as for crimes against the person and in the field of drugs. The 40-year-old, among other things, had also praised the work of Mohamed Merah, the author of the Toulouse and Montauban attacks in 2012 in which many people were killed, and was indicated by the French authorities as a dangerous person.

The investigation, conducted by the Digos of the Latina police headquarters and by specialized staff of the service for the fight against extremism and external terrorism of the Central Directorate of the Prevention Police, began last May after traces of it had been found passing through the railway stations of Genoa, Rome and Naples.

On 7 July last, the international operations room of the Service for International Police Cooperation (SCIP) reported in real time that the foreigner had sent a series of emails to the Inspectorate General of the National Transalpine Police containing threats to the “French and of their institutions “, also claiming to want” to end their lives by killing people “.

It was thus possible to identify the area from which the emails had came, allowing the Digos policemen to locate his hiding place.

The escapee was safely conducted at the International Police Cooperation Center in Modane (Frosinone) and handed over to the transalpine authorities following a readmission procedure immediately activated between the Central Directorate of Immigration and Border Police and the French police.