BUDAPEST, March 22 — Hungarian police today arrested a Syrian man suspected of being a high-ranking IS leader who organised suicide attacks and executions, following a European cross-border investigation.
The Syrian was arrested in a detention centre in eastern Hungary, Budapest chief prosecutor Tibor Ibolya told the M1 public television channel.
The 27-year-old had been a member of the Islamic State (IS) group since 2016, said a statement by the Budapest prosecutor’s office.
He was awaiting deportation from Hungary to Greece when he was arrested after a probe that involved Hungarian and Belgian agencies, it said.
The investigation linked the suspect to the execution of 20 family members in the Syrian city of Homs in 2016.
The victims were beheaded after refusing to join IS, the prosecutor’s office said.
“There are reasonable grounds for suspicion that the man personally took part in the execution,” it said.
The suspect, who had received refugee status in Greece, was detained at Budapest airport in December 2018 after he and a woman travelling with him were caught in possession of false identification documents.
He was later convicted of human trafficking and other crimes and handed an expulsion order from Hungary. — AFP
