Italian connection

Questions over whether Europe will be the site for further terrorism after the Charlie Hebdo attacks have emerged again after the Italian police arrested nine people and issued arrest warrants for others over suspicions of belonging to an Al-Qaeda-linked terror cell in Sardinia. The Italian police claimed that the cell had planned an attack on the Vatican in 2010, which was never carried out, and also participated in an attack in Peshawar in 2009 which killed over 100. The group is reported to have been in touch with Osama bin Laden before his death in 2011 as well as with Taliban groups based in Pakistan. Most of the members are alleged to be from Pakistan or Afghanistan and have members in seven Italian provinces. Around nine of the members are said to be in Pakistan at the moment.
The problems in the story begin with the revelations that the Italian police had apparently been wire-tapping the group since 2005. One Italian prosecutor admitted that the “authorities don’t have direct evidence of the Vatican plan and the suspects weren’t being investigated further in relation to that angle.” What is stranger is that the group's primary task appears to have been smuggling people into Italy. The same prosecutor argued that they provided false employment contacts and logistic help to migrants arriving in Italy. So the question is: were these men people smugglers, Al-Qaeda terrorists or both? If the revelations are true, the arrests will have a number of implications for Pakistan. The revelation that the cell was in touch with Osama bin Laden when he was in his Abbottabad compound will raise serious questions once again about Pakistani security agencies. The arrest of Pakistanis among the group will both increase scrutiny around Pakistanis living abroad and lead to travel difficulties for anyone from the country looking to visit Europe or North America. However, until the Italian authorities provide more evidence, the raid could be a PR stunt by an Italian government facing serious criticism over how it deals with migrants after a boat carrying 800 illegal migrants capsized. More details are awaited.