Militant Islamic cells scattered across Italy, many of them dormant and used to support attacks abroad, could turn to targets inside the country, Italy's top guerrilla investigator said on Thursday.
Italy, which like Spain supported the US-led offensive in Iraq, has been on a state of alert since the March 11 Madrid train bombs which killed 191 people.
"The main lesson from Madrid is that a cell everyone would have considered as one providing logistic support can suddenly change," prosecutor Stefano Dambruoso told a news conference just weeks before he is due to take up a job with UN crime-fighting agencies in Vienna.
"Many countries, including Italy, had been considered crossroads for attacks abroad. We can no longer be so sure," he said.
Dambruoso, in his 40s, has spearheaded Italy's anti-guerrilla probes from Milan for almost a decade, taking on the job after working on investigations into the Sicilian mafia.
Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told parliamentarians on Wednesday that more than 13,000 Italian sites needed constant monitoring against possible attacks. Earlier this month, police found video tapes of a key radical Muslim cleric urging his followers to attack Rome.
"In Europe, there are no real havens," Dambruoso said, speaking under the watchful eye of two bodyguards.
"We can no longer allow ourselves to base our analysis on what militant groups have done so far," he said.
Italian police last week detained more than 100 people suspected of having links with Muslim militants. But Dambruoso said there was no clear link between Italian-based militants and the Madrid train bombs.
Dambruoso said Italy lacked basic tools for its investigation, including Arabic speaking translators willing to overcome their fear and work for magistrates and the police.
He added his team also faced bureaucratic difficulties since although foreign intelligence reports can be consulted internationally they cannot be used to convict suspects.
"Prosecutors will exchange all sorts of information, as long as you use it only as background for your investigation. You cannot use it in court," Dambruoso said. "Given this information is classified, it is as if it didn't exist."
In one of the Milan prosecutors' most successful operations, an attack on a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, in 2000, was foiled after German police, on their tip-off, raided a Frankfurt apartment where would-be attackers had gathered arms.
Dambruoso said the problem was convicting potential attackers before a move has been made and when, by definition, militants are still operating mostly legally.
"Suspects are found with fake documents. But fake documents are not bombs," he told reporters.
"Since, we have discovered that fake documents are key to terrorists' mobility. Those who provide false identity papers are just as important as those who provide explosive material," Dambruoso said.
Preventing an attack is no easier, as prosecutors come under a barrage of material on potential attacks, most which are never carried out.
"There is a huge problem sifting through information. How can you know which is the concrete project?" he said.
And often, it is too late to spot plans already in motion: "It's almost a miracle that we manage, once in a while."
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