Jihadists on the seas

50 jihadists arrived in Italy last year on boats from Tunisia

There are reports that Islamic State recruits are among economic migrants making the journey across the Mediterranean after Isis suffered excruciating defeats in Syria and Iraq and some of its estimated 5,000 Tunisian fighters began returning home.

These migrants sail in small fast boats to unmonitored Sicilian beaches, where they are dropped off by traffickers and vanish, heading for stations and destinations in Europe.



European border agents are now stepping up the search for foreign fighters crossing the Mediterranean. 

The EU’s Frontex agency confirmed that it was launching Operation Themis to collect intelligence “aimed at detecting foreign fighters and other terrorist threats” on Europe’s borders.