SOCIAL
Thousands of ex-Taliban fighters 'may have entered Germany'
2017-04-22 21:35 GMT+8
Editor
Deng Junfang
Thousands of former Taliban fighters may have entered Germany over the past two years among an influx of more than a million migrants and refugees, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Saturday.
Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) informed security officials that thousands of migrants had identified themselves as former Taliban insurgents during the asylum application process, the magazine said.
Hundreds of migrants waited at Tovarnik station for a train to take them to Zagreb on September 17, 2015 in Tovarnik, Croatia. Migrants crossed into Croatia from Serbia two days after Hungary sealed its border with Serbia. The majority of them wanted to reach Germany. /VCG Photo
It added that at least 70 Afghan men were being investigated by Germany's over-stretched chief federal prosecutor, though it was not clear whether all of them were suspected of being active Taliban militants.
Six are being held in investigatory detention and preliminary court hearings involving several others are due to start next week, the magazine added.
No comment was immediately available from the migration office or federal prosecutors.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on August 24, 2015. /VCG Photo
The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, under fire for allowing in so many migrants, especially after several militant attacks linked to migrants last year, has been actively deporting groups of rejected Afghan asylum seekers.
Merkel, seeking a fourth term in a September 24 election, this month defended the increase in deportations of rejected Afghan asylum seekers, saying all other European Union countries were doing the same.
She said about 55 percent of Afghans were granted refugee status in Germany, while 45 percent were turned down.
(Source: Reuters)
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