Up to 5,000 Europeans join militant ranks: Europol chief
The Europol chief said that the mostly young men pose a threat to their country of origin if they return there.
“We are talking about 3,000, 5,000 EU nationals,” Rob Wainwright told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
Wainwright said that the returning militants would be the most serious terrorist threat that Europe has faced since 9/11 2001 attacks. He also called for greater scrutiny of the use of social media which was used as a recruitment tool by jihadists.
“We have to have a closer, much more productive relationship between law enforcement and technology firms…One of the important evolutions we're seeing right now in the current terrorist threat is the way the Internet is used, clearly much more aggressively, much more imaginatively by the networks,” he added.
Reports said the names of about 2,500 suspects were collected by Europol from the security services of various EU countries with the issue of home grown jihadists gaining prominence in recent days, especially after a string of attacks in Paris by assailants born in France.
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