France is leader in terror arrests

THE EU’s criminal intelligence agency Europol says France was responsible for more than half of the arrests of “people linked to Islamist terrorism” in Europe last year – 94 out of 179.

According to Le Figaro this makes France “Europe’s leading bastion against this threat”.

Criminologist Alain Bauer told the paper it showed “the French preventative method works”.

Mr Bauer added that reforms of France’s intelligence services had helped make sure that no Islamic terrorist attack succeeded in the country last year.

These have included amalgamating the Renseignements Généraux (an intelligence section of the national police) and the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (a counter-espionage agency of the Interior Ministry) into the Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur (DCRI).

According to DCRI head Bernard Squarcini, France has in the last few months “upped its response level”, including closer working between France’s foreign and home intelligence workers, as “there is no difference between interior and exterior threats today”.

Vigilance is still needed, however, says Europol, as Islamist terrorist groups continue to plan attacks against EU members, such as those committed last year in Denmark and Sweden.

One trend is that Islamist networks are more multi-national and attacks are less likely to be commanded from a country outside the EU.