A total of 18 people were arrested last year by gardai probing jihadi activity in Ireland, a new police report has revealed.
And 17 of those were detained on suspicion of funding terrorist groups.
Several ongoing Garda investigations focused on lone individuals and groups, including male and female suspects with Irish, dual and foreign nationalities.
Europol’s EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2021 revealed funds are raised for terrorism through legal sources such as money collections and donations, and illegal sources like drug trafficking.
The report found that in Ireland funds from various activities were transferred through money service businesses to other countries in Europe, including Turkey, and also to Afghanistan.
It also confirmed that one of the Garda arrests was made as part of investigations into religious extremist groups.
The Garda indicated that a small number of suspects, who fought with or against the Islamic State, were in Ireland and that one foreign terrorist in Syria remains under investigation.
Overall in the EU, a total of 449 arrests on suspicion of terrorist offences were made – significantly lower than in 2019.
However, Ireland’s 18 arrests in 2020 increased from five the year before in 2019 and zero in 2018. Only four other EU countries reported more arrests in relation to jihadi activity last year.
