ISIS terrorists are being smuggled into Europe by posing as refugees

Intelligence analysts fear that would-be jihadis are exploiting the growing crisis of desperate migrants fleeing war-torn North Africa by joining them on risky boat crossings.

Once ashore in countries such as Italy and Greece, there are fears that militants could evade detection by the authorities – and try to plot violent attacks.

Islamic State (IS) commanders are also profiting from the grim trade in refugees making the perilous voyage by demanding half of the money taken by the traffickers.

Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that British Special Forces divers are poised to launch a series of daring operations along the Libyan coastline to destroy the ships used by traffickers.

Claims that IS terrorists are posing as refugees are made by a Libyan security adviser, Abdul Basit Haroun, who used to live in Britain.

He tells a Radio 5 live Investigates programme to be broadcast today: 'They use the boats for their people who they want to send to Europe as the European police don't know who is from IS and who is a normal refugee. The boat owners have a list of who to take but some people come suddenly and they're told, 'Take them with you.' They sit down separately, and in the boat they are not scared at all.

'They are for IS – 100 per cent. I think they do something for planning in future, not for today or tomorrow.'

A double agent who betrayed Al Qaeda secrets to MI5 says IS is now running its own small, but well-organised people-trafficking operation. Aimen Dean, now a security consultant, also tells the programme that he knows of two Egyptian brothers who reached Italy from the Libyan port city of Sirte. 

They were reportedly given a week of religious education to 'safeguard' them against temptations of the West before being accompanied on their journey by men who were 'deeply religious and fluent in Italian and French'.

Mr Dean says: 'The fact that IS started this venture to smuggle Egyptians, Algerians, Tunisians and Syrians shows how the group is utilising their strategic position in Sirte to generate income.'

The claims come ahead of a crucial meeting tomorrow at which European Ministers will consider plans for air and naval strikes against the Libyan people-smugglers, subject to UN approval.

The lead prosecutor investigating trafficking organisations in Italy – Palermo-based Geri Ferrara – confirmed that the traffickers pay a fee to local Islamist groups. He said: 'They pay whoever is in control of the territory in which they are established – that is IS or whichever Islamist or other militia is controlling the area.'

He revealed that he was 'investigating the possibility' that there were foreign fighters hidden among migrants but that part of the investigation was classified.

The fears raised in the BBC programme echo those made in a series of recent reports.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime wrote last week that human trafficking in Libya has 'strengthened groups with a terrorist agenda like Islamic State', and that terrorists are even attacking refugee camps in order to create more migrants.

Dr Jamie Shea, Nato's Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, told a London conference last month: 'IS is using this [migrant flow] to infiltrate terrorist operatives into Europe. We need to be on our guard.' 

Raffaello Pantucci, director of International Security Studies at the think-tank Rusi, said: 'I have heard some other people say that this is potentially happening, so I can't totally discount it. But I am still very sceptical – why would they bother trying such a risky route?'

Last night, it emerged that frogmen from the Special Boat Service are expected to deploy from an Astute class UK submarine, approach in small teams and attach sophisticated limpet mines to the traffickers' ships which can then be detonated remotely. Defence sources said that these missions would be 'in play' in three to four weeks, by which time the UN is expected to have passed a resolution authorising military force to stamp out human trafficking.

This year alone, 1,600 people are believed to have drowned while crossing the Mediterranean. Traffickers charge up to £6,000 for passage from North Africa to Europe.

Former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West, said last night: 'There are waters off Libya deep enough for a British submarine to loiter unseen and these Special Forces divers could go in there, put mines on the ships, and sneak out again very easily without the traffickers knowing anything about it.

'Once the UN resolution is in place we should work with the Libyan governments to mount a blockade of the ports. We'll need a command ship such as HMS Bulwark which is down there, helicopters and escort ships. We can make the trafficking ships unusable and once they're at sea there are lots of ways to stop the ships and get the people off.'

Special Forces sources described last night how British divers could stop the traffickers' ships by targeting their propellers.

One said: 'There are some very small underwater craft, such as the Torpedo Seal, which can release divers through the Torpedo hatch of a submarine and take them ten nautical miles to and from a target. They could set the mines in place and withdraw before the explosives are detonated. Once the ships are rendered inoperable, British sailors could then rescue the refugees.'

(dailymail.co.uk)