Thread by @ISPI_Terrorism

1/16 Thread on the raid carried out by Italian police and the weapons and missile seized.
As there has been some confusion regarding the operation, hopefully this thread will offer some clarifications on what we do and do not know at the moment:

2/16 According to the official press conference, the investigation began in July 2018, as authorities were monitoring Italian far-right extremists fighting with pro-Ukrainian groups and other far-right individuals who were in contact with the fighters. questure.poliziadistato.it/it/Torino/arti…

3/16 During this monitoring activity they discovered that a man living in the province of Varese, N. Italy, was trying to sell an air-to-air missile. The missile was not armed, however Police said that it could have been re-armed with the help of experts. poliziadistato.it/articolo/225d2…

4/16 Two other people, a Swiss national and an Italian citizen, both with criminal backgrounds, were also apprehended in connection to the attempted sale of the missile. According to Police, 5-6 people had been contacted for the proposal of the sale of the missile.

5/16 The missile was kept in a hangar in an airstrip in the province of Pavia, N. Italy. The recovered missile, a Matra Super 530F, was initially sold by France to the Qatari Armed Forces but had been disarmed. It is currently unknown how the missile was acquired.

6/16 Other memorabilia was found in the hangar where the missile was recovered, including an aircraft cockpit, military equipment and aircraft rocket pods without rockets.

7/16 The man attempting to sell the missile, 60-year-old Fabio Del Bergiolo, was a former airport customs officer & had run for senate in 2001 with Forza Nuova, an Italian far-right party. torino.corriere.it/cronaca/19_lug…

8/16 Del Bergiolo was found in possession of a large cache of illegally detained weapons that included assault rifles, sub-machine guns, rifles, pistols, bayonets and around a thousand rounds of ammunition and gun parts.

9/16 In 2003, Del Bergiolo was fired after committing fraud, and because of his criminal convictions his collector’s weapons permit was revoked and thus could not legally detain any type of firearm.

10/16 Investigations regarding the origins of the uncovered weapons are currently under way. Further, more in depth, inspections of the hangar where the missile was found will also be carried out in the coming days.

11/16 Regarding Italian citizens fighting in the Ukraine, no fighters who have traveled to the Donbass are currently involved in this particular investigation.

12/16 However, the 2018 annual Report of Italian intelligence (published in February 2019) registered this phenomenon, highlighting that:
A) a number of Italian far-right extremists have mobilized to fight with pro-Ukrainian ultra-nationalist groups.
sicurezzanazionale.gov.it/sisr.nsf/wp-co…

13/16
B) A larger number of far-right extremists have mobilized to fight with pro-Russian separatist groups, espousing their ideology in an anti-NATO & anti-EU key.

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C) A smaller, but significant number of left-wing extremists has mobilized to fight with the pro-Russian separatists, in an anti-fascist, anti-imperialist key.

15/16 3 men were convicted this July in Liguria, northern Italy, for fighting for pro-Russian militias in the Donbass. Their participation in the conflict was uncovered during an investigation on Italian skinheads. Approx. 15 others are under investigation ansa.it/liguria/notizi…

16/16 At the moment, it appears that while the investigation was the result of monitoring activity of Italian far-right combatants in the Ukraine, the people arrested yesterday did not travel to the Donbass and do not have strong ties to that conflict area.