It is impossible to completely prevent new Islamist attacks like those in Paris, the EU’s anti-terror chief said Tuesday, warning that Europe’s prisons have become a “massive incubator” for radicalisation.
Gilles de Kerchove said that the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda wanted to launch more attacks on the West like the assault on the French capital last week in which 17 people were killed over three says.
“We can’t prevent (militant attacks) 100 per cent,” said de Kerchove, who met with European, US and Canadian security ministers in Paris on Sunday in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre and linked attacks.
“The threat remains serious,” he added.
De Kerchove warned that the Al-Nusra Front, the al Qaeda branch in Syria, is also looking for “clean skins,” Europeans with no record of radical activity, to mount attacks in Europe.
He also said that weapons from the Balkans and Libya were being sold in Europe and it was extremely difficult to prevent “crazy people” from obtaining them and carrying out attacks if they wanted to.
“It’s a real challenge but one can try to prevent them as much as possible without becoming a totalitarian society,” he said.
