Cops say at least 40 IS militants came to Germany as "refugees"

Why does the man on the right have his face covered? Fear of catching the flu perhaps? Or could it be that he's o ne of the dozens of ISIS terrorists entering Germany as "refugees"?

According to reports from Thomson Reuters, German federal police admitted today that they are investigating 40 cases in which Islamic militants are suspected of having entered the country disguised as refugees. That's more than double the number of cases under investigation in January. Under German Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy of "Willkommenskultur", it's relatively easy, it seems, for bogus refugees, asylum-seekers and other migrants to enter the Fatherland without proof of identity. They could come, and do come from anywhere.

In the past, the Frau Merkel's government has played down the risks of IS fighters entering Europe with the tide of migrants, in part to avoid exacerbating public concerns about the influx, which hit a record 1.1 million last year. But last week, Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, told a conference that although there were more efficient ways to smuggle in fighters, ISIS appeared to have sent some via the Balkan route from Greece in order to fan fears about refugees and "send a political signal." "I am not telling you a secret," he said, "when I say that I am concerned about the high number of migrants whose identities we don't know because they had no papers when they entered the country."

A spokesthingy for the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA, the federal police), told the press "German security officials have indications that members and supporters of terrorist organisations are being smuggled in with refugees in a targeted, organized way in order to launch attacks in Germany." Two of the suicide bombers from the November attacks in Paris that killed 130 people came into Europe through the Balkan route, she said. So did two men who authorities believe were meant to participate in those attacks but were delayed and arrested in a refugee centre in Salzburg in December. There is also evidence that Saleh Abdeslam, believed to be the lone surviving suspect from the attacks, picked up three unidentified militants who entered Europe with "refugees" in the southern German city of Ulm last October.

In early February of this year, German authorities arrested a 35-year-old Algerian man and his wife at a refugee centre in the town of Attendorn. The man, suspected of being a member of ISIS, reportedly posed as a Syrian when he entered Germany in the autumn of 2015. Days later, in Mainz, the polizei arrested a 32-year-old man suspected of having fought with the Islamic militants in eastern Syria before travelling to Germany via Turkey.
[No more bogus refugees, please. Out of space. Ed.]