One of the identified terrorists in Friday’s attacks in Paris – Almohammad Ahmad – told Greek authorities that he was a refugee from the city of Edlib in Syria. Almohammad landed on Leros on the 3rd of October with an additional 193 refugees.
A government official told To Vima that the mobile phones of refugees are frequently inspected – in search of suspicious photographs or other data – however when Almohammad arrived in Greece it was not possible to carry out inspections due to the huge number of refugees awaiting registration.
Furthermore, the official explained that the details of arriving refugees are cross-checked with a list of known European citizens who have left to join the so-called Islamic State. The official noted that checks focus on names, rather than fingerprints or other biometric data. As such it seems highly unlikely that a man fleeing the war in Syria could become a suicide bomb a few days later. This, added the official, highlights the overall inspection problems.
While the passport found near the suicide bomber has been declared a fake by the French Justice Minister, the fingerprints taken in Paris match up with the fingerprints from the registration in Leros. This suggests that the suicide bomb attempted to hide his real identity and origin. Curiously Almohammad Ahmad was included in a list of people killed in Edlib on 11 March 2012 during clashes between the Syrian armed forces and rebel groups.
