Eurojust and Europol help identify terrorist group

Joint Eurojust/Europol press release

The Hague, 19 June 2019

The Belgian judicial authorities, in effective cooperation with Eurojust and Europol, targeted a terrorist group involved in the recruitment and training of Kurdish terrorist fighters. 2 suspects were apprehended by the Belgian authorities for hearings, following a number of houses searches, conducted simultaneously in 5 countries. Eurojust, the EU’s Judicial Cooperation Unit, facilitated the issuance and transmission of several European Investigation Orders that were swiftly executed in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland. Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre set up a coordination centre on a joint action day to support the operations of the law enforcement authorities in all countries concerned.

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, in close collaboration with the investigative judge of Liège, specialised in terrorism matters, initiated a criminal investigation into the alleged terrorist organisation in 2017. Several operational meetings and one coordination meeting at Eurojust served as a platform to swiftly exchange case-related information and efficiently coordinate the next judicial and operational steps. The members of the terrorist organisation allegedly belong to some of the military wings, (including People’s Defence Forces (HPG) of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They are suspected of recruiting and training terrorist fighters, using training camps and sessions in various countries.