ISIS Member Arrested in Rome: A High Alert Security Operation

"The investigation begins now. We are very curious to understand what he had come to do in Rome," the investigators from the Digos of Rome are working on Ilkhomi Sayrakhmonzoda, a 32-year-old Tajik and "active member of ISIS," arrested in the morning at Fiumicino as he was about to board a train headed for the Capital. The handcuffs clicked because the man was the recipient of a 'red notice' from Interpol - an international arrest request - issued by Tajikistan, as Sayrakhmonzoda had enlisted in the ranks of the Islamic State in 2014 and had gone to fight in Syria. Previously, he had been arrested in Belgium. Terrorism alert in Rome, snipers, and checks: the city fortified for the Easter holidays, the task force in the center. The nationality of the arrested - in a moment of high tension due to ongoing conflicts - recalls the fire group that struck at Crocus Hall in Moscow on March 22; an attack that was claimed by ISIS. At the moment, however, there are no elements that would show links with that action. Tajikistan is one of the nations that provide a significant number of militants to ISIS Khorasan, a formation that would count on sleeper cells also in Europe. What is known is that the Tajik - short hair, beard, dressed in jeans, a white t-shirt, and sneakers, suitcase in hand - landed at 11:45 at Fiumicino coming from Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, under false identities. The Police officers then detected his fingerprints which led to the person sought by Interpol at the request of Tajikistan. His movements at the Fiumicino airport were monitored to see if someone was waiting for him. But the man from the arrivals area moved alone towards the train that leads to Rome and at that point, the agents intervened by blocking him. His cellphone and about two thousand euros in cash were seized. Rome was therefore not an intermediate stop, but his destination. He did not have another plane ticket to leave. Sayrakhmonzoda is 'unknown' to the databases of the Italian law enforcement agencies, therefore he does not have a history on the national territory. However, he has numerous aliases with different nationalities and dates of birth, especially from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine. The investigators now count on the analysis of the mobile phone to trace any Italian contacts of the man. Indeed, because his arrival in Rome opens up disturbing questions: was he planning an action? Was he supposed to recruit someone? Was there a network waiting for him? At this moment, he is at the disposal of the judicial authority which will have to evaluate the extradition request from Tajikistan. An operation, that of today, which shows the high alert of the security apparatus with the enhancement of control activities especially in a sensitive and neuralgic point like Fiumicino airport. The arrest, commented the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, is "a very important result, the fruit of the effective prevention activity carried out by our apparatuses on the national territory to counter the terrorist threat." It is the confirmation, he added, of the "profitable cooperation with the Police Forces of other countries. With our international partners, in fact, there is a constant sharing of both the information heritage and the operational strategies to effectively face the risk profiles." Since October 7, about 51 people have been expelled from Italy for security reasons.