The Syrian passport that was found near the body of an assailant in Friday night’s terror assault in Paris entered the European Union through Greece last month, an official said.
Advertisement
However, Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck said it was only “conjecture and speculation” that the passport holder had passed through Austria.
“One of the suspected terrorists, A.A., who is of interest to the French security agencies, was registered on the Presevo border crossing on October 7 this year, where he formally sought asylum”, the Serbian Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Though the passport was reportedly found near the body of one of the gunman, there have been no confirmed reports on whether the passport holder was one of the attackers. “Fake Syrian passport are being sold in Turkey for whoever wants to claim asylum in Europe”.
Meanwhile, a black Seat vehicle used in the shootings at a Parisian bar and restaurant was found in Montreuil, a town near Paris, police sources told AFP Sunday. The Island is just ten miles from the Turkish coast and has been a major point of ingress for so-called “refugees” into Europe, alongside neighbour island Kos.
If it was still with the same person, he most likely travelled north and east from Serbia to Croatia – because Hungary had by then shut its border with Serbia – and then to Austria via Slovenia or a different Hungarian border. According to Vox, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum quickly cited the Paris attacks to justify closing the borders to more Syrian refugees.
The passport could also be a fake or have been used fraudulently.
One of the suicide bombers behind the Paris attacks that killed 131 people owned an emergency passport, according to a French senator who has spoken with CNN on condition of anonymity. “He should have put it away somewhere and gone to hell”, wrote Jalal Abazid on Facebook, a Syrian refugee in Germany.
The air raids came after President Francois Hollande called the Paris attacks – the worst in the country’s history – an “act of war” and vowed to hit back “without mercy”. It now appears that at least one of the men involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris camouflaged himself alongside the recent flow of Syrian refugees.
The authorities in Belgrade said they will continue cooperating with the security services in France over the attack and potential suspects.
But the other end of the spectrum, closing borders to Syrian war refugees could force many Syrians to remain at home – exposing them to deadly fighting between anti-government rebels and government forces.
“When you have thousands waiting there is not much you can do”, a Greek official said, adding that police interviews with migrants are often perfunctory.
Advertisement
Koen Geens, the justice minister, said that the arrests were in response to the Paris attacks after a auto with a Belgian license plate was seen near the Bataclan concert hall. Another official says there is little police can do anyway to stop a militant who has no criminal record and isn’t yet the target of any police investigation in Europe. However, they did not go into detail as to exactly how the process works when refugees enter the country.
