Terrorist attack planned in Geneva
Swiss members of the Islamic State group, led by a
man with the alias Abu Ilias al-Swisri, planned to blow up the facility in
April or May 2019, according to the newspaper. Why the plan failed remains
unclear.
The 25-year old at the centre of the plan was active
at the Petit-Saconnex mosque after converting to islam in 2013 and joining the
Islamic State group in 2015.
At the end of August 2018, American intelligence
warned Swiss intelligence of the threat, which then warned the chief of police
in Geneva. Plans were then enacted to protect the site.
Switzerland’s intelligence service went to Syria to
interview three detained Swiss jihadists mentioned in the intelligence report
in January, who denied involvement.
Boris Mabillard, the journalist involved in the
investigation, thinks the significance of communications between those who left
for Syria and those who remained in their country of origin was underestimated.
He also said that without information from American intelligence Switzerland
would have been “blind and deaf” to the threat.
