Greek authorities arrest Syrian ISIS member

Police car via Kathimerini

eKathimerini — A 32-year-old man from Syria was arrested at Alexandroupoli on Thursday after confessing his membership in the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and his participation in its terrorist activity.

Greek authorities were tipped  by his own wife, who reported him for abusing her and their child. They lived in Thessaloniki at a refugee camp, but they also had a flat in Athens.

Police arrested him as he went to Alexandroupoli, in northeastern Greece, to file another application for asylum in Greece.

The Syrian family had reached Greece last year, arriving on Leros island in June 2016, but the man had been denied asylum.

The man confessed he is a jihadist. He also made a suicide attempt using his shoestring, and was taken to an Alexandroupoli hospital with no major concerns for hs health. He is expected to be taken to a prosecutor later on Friday.

Police is reported to have found some “horrifying evidence” in his house in Athens, but no more details have been released.

He has been a member of a terrorist group in Syria and until 2014 he lived in Damascus, before crossing to Turkey where he engaged in smuggling.

Authorities are examining any contacts he may have had with other people in Greece, possibly jihadists, but there is no information of him plotting any terrorist attacks in this country as he apparently intended to go abroad for a hit in another country.