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An Interpol operation with particularly the participation of Morocco allowed the detection of a dozen «terrorist fighters» at the Mediterranean's maritime borders, announced on Thursday the world's largest international police organization.
Operation Neptune II was conducted from 24 July to 8 September in seven seaports in the six participating countries (Algeria, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco and Tunisia). «It has detected more than a dozen suspected foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) travelling across the Mediterranean», Interpol said in a statement.
Neptune II «focused on the threats posed by suspected FTFs potentially using maritime routes between North Africa and Southern Europe during the busy summer tourist season», the organization pointed out.
Supported by an Interpol team on the ground, the intelligence-led operation also targeted criminal networks involved in human trafficking, people smuggling, firearms trafficking and the drugs trade.
Officials at the seaports in the six participating countries «carried out more than 1.2 million searches across Interpol’s databases for stolen and lost travel documents, nominal data and stolen vehicles via its I-24/7 secure global police communications network», added the same source.
These resulted in 31 active investigative leads, with more than 12 of these linked to the movement of terror suspects, the Interpol noted.
Interpol’s databases currently hold details of more than 50,000 foreign terrorist fighters and some 400,000 pieces of terrorist-related information, according to the same source.
It added that «the operation further highlighted the role of international, regional and national inter-agency cooperation in enhancing security, with experts from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) also participating in the initiative».
