It seems that Pakistani culture-enrichers in the Italian city of Genoa have become a little too frisky, prompting the anti-terrorism police to intervene and suppress their youthful enthusiasm.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Gazzetta del Sud:

Genoa — Terrorist cell identified: It was the group that attacked the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo

June 7, 2022

A vast anti-terrorist operation by the National Police, coordinated by the National Prosecutor’s office in Genoa, with the arrests in Italy and abroad, of Pakistani citizens directly connected to Hassan Zaher Mahmood, the 27-year-old Pakistani, who carried out an attack in Paris on September 25, 2020 in the area of the former headquarters of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The details of the operation

The Pakistani terrorist cell identified by the investigators was prepared to buy arms and was recruiting associates in Italy. This has emerged from the investigation by Digos [General Investigation and Special Operations Division] of Genoa and by anti-terrorism police, which led to the arrest of fourteen people. “We are going to buy arms in two months,” say the head of the Italian cell and the 33-year-old Pakistani “maestro” to each other. And further, “Now we need to go into every city and find those ten people I need, the more we are, the better…” they said to each other as they were looking for a place to stay. “Give me two months to work, and we will find our ‘Tana’ and make our Gabar group here in Italy.”

The Italian cell

The Pakistani passed through Chiavari (Genoa), according to the investigating judge, providing his own participatory contribution to the terrorist association, “…promoting the formation of cell located and operating in Italy beginning in April 2021, through the recruitment of associates, the locating of a den (so-called Tana), the acquisition of arms, offering hospitality to associates, maintaining relations and contacts with people at the top of the organization.”

At this time there are six people under arrest in Italy, and one in Spain in connection with the investigation into the Pakistani terrorist cell taken down by Digos in Genoa and by the anti-terrorism police. Two persons were arrested in Genoa, one in Florence, one in the province of Reggio Emilia, one in Bari, one in Treviso, and the last one in Spain.

The documented meetings

From the summer of 2021, the investigators documented numerous meetings between the subjects, which periodically reached Italian territory, particularly at Fabbrico (Reggio Emilia), where T.Y. settled and found employment. Italy, according to the investigators, was the favored place for logistical support of the Gabar Group.

A circumstance also demonstrated by the arrest in Lodi at the end of September in 2021 of Ali Hamza, 19-year-old Pakistani, on a European arrest warrant issued by the anti-terrorism prosecutor of Paris because he was tied to the Charlie Hebdo attacker, at the point of being assigned to disseminate the video claiming responsibility for the attack once it was certain that the project was successful. Lastly, the investigative effort found corroboration in a recent operation in Spain, which in February of 2022 led to the arrest of five persons, of whom at least three were in contact with the current subjects, and all were connected to the Gabar Group.

The compromising videos

In addition, the Pakistani in question brandished machetes or knives of large dimensions, mimicking, together with the others, the “throat-cutting” on the street or in the residence of the head of the Pakistani terrorist cell taken down by Digos and the anti-terrorist police. This is what appears in the videos posted on social media. He often appears dressed in a tunic and black headdress as he recites violent texts or while he is in the company of his countrymen.

Refugee status

The 25-year-old Pakistani, leader of the Gabar cell in Italy and arrested in connection with the maxi-anti-terrorist operation, coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Genoa and by Dda (Anti-Mafia), had obtained refugee status in 2015. The man, who resided in Chiavari, had been arrested in France for carrying a weapon and had previous arrests in Italy for facilitating illegal immigration.