Italy arrests man over Milan synagogue 'plot'



A 20 year old Moroccan-born man who allegedly plotted an attack on a synagogue in Milan, Italy has been arrested. Police detained him in the early Thursday morning in the city of Brescia. He was accused of possessing details of the synagogue and plans for an attack on his computer. London police said a 40-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of collecting information useful to terrorism, though she is not thought to be a part of the Milan plot.

Italian Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said that the matter was being treated "very seriously", although there was no terror alert in particular.

Claudio Galzerano, head of Italy's police anti-terrorism unit, told BBC News that the operation was a "result of monitoring of the internet that we've been doing for a while on a radical Islamic website". The man had, evidently, operated a Facebook group involving around 10 members in which there were "instructions and manuals for explosive devices", though no chemical substances were actually found when he was arrested.

That’s just about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard: terrorists, if I may be so bold, putting manuals on how to construct explosives on Facebook. ON FACEBOOK.

"BBC News - Italy arrests man over Milan synagogue 'plot'." BBC - Homepage. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17381518 (accessed March 15, 2012).