A medical worker (top, 3rd R) takes the temperature of a would-be immigrant at Maspalomas beach on Gran Canaria in Spain's Canary Islands November 5, 2014. Some 21 would-be immigrants arrived in a fishing boat on their way to European soil from Africa, Sp
A medical worker (top, 3rd R) takes the temperature of a would-be immigrant at Maspalomas beach on Gran Canaria in Spain's Canary Islands November 5, 2014. Some 21 would-be immigrants arrived in a fishing boat on their way to European soil from Africa, Spanish police said. Reuters/Borja Suarez

Migrants and refugees reaching the shores of Europe will also have Islamic State fighters among them, warned a European Union official. A top prosecutor of EU called for vigil since smugglers' boats that bring migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe are also carrying dreaded ISIS fighters.

Michele Coninsx, head of the EU's judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, told media persons that she is sharing this information as part of the organisation's efforts to help EU nations in responding to illegal immigration, terrorism and cybercrime. Coninsx said the agency will not divulge the source of information and what problem infiltration of Islamic militants will pose to European law enforcement. Groups like Islamic State are reportedly using proceeds from people trafficking to fund terrorism.

Funding Terror

Eurojust, is one of the EU agencies that shut down traffickers' operations. "We're going after the criminals. We're going after the money," said Coninsx, who is a career prosecutor from Belgium. She said smugglings; in many cases are a front in financing terrorism and in facilitating ex-filtrations and infiltrations of members of Islamic State.

After paying thousands of dollars for reaching Europe, thousands of people have been leaving Libya in overcrowded boats or dinghies. Hundreds of people have drowned. This year, 70,000 migrants were rescued by EU-led naval operations. Coninsx quoted an Italian official who told Eurojust that the flow of migrants has raised fivefold. The sources said, quite often smugglers mingle with the migrants hoping that they will not be caught although dozens have been arrested in Sicily and in southern Italy.

Amnesty Flays

Meanwhile, human rights group Amnesty International flayed the European Union for abandoning migrants, seeking to enter EU countries through the Balkans. Amnesty said, those migrants are facing abuse and exploitation. In a report, Amnesty said criminal gangs and officials are taking advantage of such people. It blamed EU's "failing" system in handling migrants' cases.

"Refugees fleeing war and persecution make this journey across the Balkans in the hope of finding safety in Europe only to find themselves victims of abuse and exploitation," said Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Europe and Central Asia. The study had focus on Serbia, Hungary, Greece, and Macedonia, where migrants are making the journey across the Balkans. The Balkan route is considered less deadly than the Mediterranean. But crossing from Turkey to the Balkans and Greece poses risks with hundreds of refugees having already drowned since 2014. Many have been killed on railways. Refugees complained that in Serbia and Macedonia, they had to bribe police officers posted at border crossings to get through. One refugee said the Macedonian police beat up his 13-year-old son.

Hungary, detained more than 60,000 people, who were trying to cross into its territory. "Both Serbia and Macedonia have become a sink for the overflow of refugees and migrants that nobody in the EU seems willing to receive." Among them, more than 21,000 journeyed across the Balkans in 2014, in which half of them are from Syria.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)

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