Greece and France to share intelligence on jihadists in Europe

With a wave of terrorism that has hit the French cities of Paris and Nice, as well as the Austrian capital of Vienna, Greece and France will boost intelligence sharing.

Athens and Paris agreed to boost intelligence sharing on known or suspected terrorists, Kathimerini reported.

A task force to monitor Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan jihadists that have lived or passed through Greece to reach other areas of Europe will be established, according to sources cited by Kathimerini.

Currently 25 suspected jihadists are being monitored, an unnamed senior official said.

This comes as only days ago Savvas Kalenteridis, a respect Greek journalist, said in a radio interview on the First Show with Lazaros Mavros, Marios Poullados and Christos Michalaros, that there are 600 ISIS members in Greece and dozens more in Cyprus.

He made the shocking announcement when discussing the arrest of a Tajik jihadist arrested in the southern Greek city of Tripoli.

Days ago a 27-year-old from Tajikistan was arrested in the Peloponnese on accusations of being an ISIS leader.

He had boarded a boat with other immigrants in 2017 in order to reach Lesvos from Turkey with his wife and their four children.

Although there is no indication of a planned terrorist attack in Greece, authorities have beefed up security at French institutions and companies and other sensitive sites, Kathimerini reported.

Meanwhile, security officials have stepped up efforts to gather information on potential extremist elements among migrant groups, also by intensifying contacts with representatives of foreign communities in the capital and the leaders of some 100 unlicensed mosques.