ISIS finds an opening into Europe

Abu Walid knew his caller to be a devout man, a member of ISIS. And his request was chilling. Could he ship 25 of his people from Libya to Europe on a small boat for $40,000?

Abu Walid -- not his real name -- declined. But it is a request that's becoming increasingly common, he told CNN, in the past two months.

ISIS is trying to infiltrate this trade to get their people to Europe from the chaotic and near-failed state of Libya as the route from Turkey to Greece becomes more heavily policed.

"Exploitation of migrant smuggling networks by ISIS in North Africa has only been a matter of time ... the U.S. and Europe need to act quickly, and together," a Western diplomat told CNN.

Abu Walid's experiences were backed up by two Libyan police officials, who said they had found ISIS militants trying to get to Europe.

He also heard of a recent case of 40 Tunisian ISIS members leaving from the militant stronghold of Sirte. Thwarted by bad weather, they tried again ten days later. He didn't know if they made it.

A senior Libyan military intelligence official in Misrata, Ismail Shukri, said that ISIS militants sought to disguise themselves by traveling with "their families, without weapons, as normal illegal immigrants."

"They will wear American dress and have English language papers so they cause no suspicion."

European officials insist they're trying to be better prepared. A senior EU counter-terrorism official told CNN there were more Europol officers working at potential "hotspots" of entry for migrants.

Still, the prospect of such an influx is a nightmare for Europe.

"If confirmed it is indeed very alarming. It is not one or two trying to move -- it seems more organized," the official told CNN.In a dank, dense corridor in Tripoli, among empty plastic bottles and soiled mattresses, is where this new cynical ploy will try to find a place.

This is where we find Eugene, in a group of migrant hopefuls who have just been apprehended by the Libyan police. He's one of many, but every one of the 30 cramped souls here is living its own singular tragedy and horror.

Eugene's dream was desperate, and now it's pretty much come to an end in a tiny house near the seafront, in hostile smuggler territory. Police nervously twitch their weapons as Eugene unravels the story that brought him here.

"I came through desert," he said. "My father is dead, through Boko Haram, through the crisis in Kano [state in Nigeria]. Even my younger brother, he died from the bomb blast last year."

He said he tried to find work as he could not afford the smugglers fees to cross to Europe. "In northern area in Nigeria, most of us we are not safe. Today bomb blast, tomorrow bomb blast, so we are not safe. If you can get anyone to help me ... because I don't know what to do, to tell the truth. 

Because here in Libya there is no peace."

It's not clear how Eugene's journey ended up in this holding pen, seemingly awaiting a crossing to Europe, but it is on hold for now.

He joins the thousands of African migrants now in detention in Libya -- a number that will grow as the EU's bid to close the Turkish-Greek shoreline intensifies.

Police officials complain to us about the sheer cost of feeding these men. Food, like so many staples, is expensive now: a symptom of Libya's expanding menu of woes.

Libya has for years been wracked by chaos, instability, economic pain and suffering for its people -- all of this drama, after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi, playing out just across from the EU's shores.

It is remarkable how more chaotic it has become in the year since we last visited. Libya now has a third government claiming control -- the Government of National Accord, led by Fayez al-Sarraj and recently installed by the United Nations -- but still struggling to gain a firm hold on the country's institutions. You can't blame them.

Libyans in Tripoli have long been ostensibly governed by the General National Congress. Out east, based in Tobruk, is another government, based around the House of Representatives and dominated to some degree by the military figure of General Khalifa Haftar.

But the longer the split goes on, the more complex its resolution seems. We got a sense of that in the key port city of Misrata.

ISIS had advanced towards the city that day, taking the highway town of Abu Grein. Two suicide bombers, using armored cars to deliver their payload, had caused bloody chaos. The second blast prompted the city to declare a state of emergency.

(CNN)