Sources revealed Involvement of the Belgian State in funding Libyan Militias responsible for Human Smuggling

Well informed sources “close to the secret services” revealed the involvement of the Belgian State in funding Libyan armed militias responsible for human smuggling.

According to Libyan website Al Marsad reporters of Belgian Television Channel RTBF conducted an investigation for weeks to inquire about this issue.

RTFB reporters obtained information from an anonymous source who claimed to have connections with the Intelligence Directorate, confirming Belgium's role in such issue.

The source added that certain aircraft inspected at Belgium's Ostend Airport were found to be carrying weapons prepared for smuggling.

After the murder of Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi in 2011, Belgian banks frozen Libyan funds but years later has been discovered that the assets.

Profits of these funds were not frozen and between 3 and 5 million euros - BNP Paribas Fortis (€43 million – over R714 million), ING (€376 million), KBC (€869 million) and Euroclear Bank (€12.8 billion) - were withdrawn since 2012 funding networks of trafficking of arms and smuggling of human beings, especially girls from Nigeria that are brought to the country to work in prostitution.

Source has pointed fingers to current Foreign Minister Didier Reynders as "responsible for the Belgian government's decision to release the interests of the frozen funds, but we do not know to whom, how, and why."

Sources:

• Al Marsad
• Reuters
• The Independent 

A French renegade intelligence agent sheds a sinister light on DGSI

A policeman working for the French internal intelligence agency, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure (DGSI), was arrested at the end of September with the accusation of selling confidential information on the Dark Web.

By using the pseudonym of Horus, the agent was selling personal infos on a platform called ‘Black Hand’: with a price list from €30 to €300, the agent was offering to his customers a series of information ranging from bank coordinates to personal identification data like social security, identity card, registered vehicles, geolocalisation and much more data.

Thanks to his posting at the judicial division of DGSI, Horus had privileged access to the French Ministry of Justice's national platform on wiretapping, together with the databses from the police and Interpol –among his services, he also provided the tracking of mobile phones, turning the essential elements of state security to criminal aims.

The DGSI agent was requesting bitcoin as currency for his transactions, so not to leave any trace of his criminal acts: nevertheless, the internal security services of DSGI managed to get to Horus by discovering the documents he was selling, which he consulted by using his personal code. According to police sources, he was in contact with several members of organized criminal networks, who were eager to get information about any possibile judicial investigation on them, as well as people involved in financial crimes.

The case of Horus sheds a sinister light on how French intelligence services recruit their personnel and control their activities: the renegade agent could have easily sold his precious informations to a terrorist group, something which should not be excluded considering the recent history of failures by the security agencies in preventing Islamist terrorist acts on French soil.

Sources:

• Journal du Geek
• Le Parisien 
• MSN

Turkish Hacking Group Suspected of taking down the website of Austrian Foreign Ministry

Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung reported speculations about the possible involvement of the Turkish "Lion Soldiers" ("Aslan Neferler") hacking group in taking down the website of the Austrian Foreign Ministry for a short time March 6. The homepage was offline for a few minutes.

Authorities responded quickly also to the threat scenario involving Austrian Airlines flights from the United States to Austria.

According to Kronen Zeitung they received an "unspecified threat" for March 4.

After lengthy security checks, the aircraft from Miami and New York could take off only with considerable delays.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Austria's Domestic Intelligence Agency, is investigating in all direction.

The Turkish "Lion Soldiers" hacking group is strongly suspected of being involved.

Russian Intelligence Agency GRU behind attempted coup in Montenegro

According to the Montenegrin Prosecutor's Office Russian Main Intelligence Agency (GRU) are behind the attempted coup in Montenegro.

Riga-based online newspaper and news aggregator in the Russian language Menduza reported that "Eduard Shishmakov, former deputy military attache at the Russian Embassy in Poland, planned the murder of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic on 16 October 2016".

Montenegro put Eduard Shirokov on the wanted list via Interpol. The Interpol database contains his photograph. On 19 February 2017 Montenegrin Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic stated that the real name of one of the plotters was not Shirokov but Shishmakov.

According to Menduza, Shirokov and another suspect, Vladimir Popov, passed 200,000 euros to Serbian nationalist Aleksandar Sindjelic, who had fought in the Donbas on the side of the pro-Russian separatists, in order for him to find people to carry out the coup.

According to Balkan Insight, a publication of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), Shirokov worked earlier at the Russian Embassy in Poland and was thrown out of the country for espionage.

In November 2014 a Russian Embassy staffer suspected of working for the Russian Main Intelligence Agency (GRU) was expelled from Poland.
His name was not disclosed at the time. At that time Polish media reported that Shishmakov was a spy but Russian officials denied this

Meduza has found a reference to a staffer at the Russian Embassy in Poland by the name of Shishmakov.

A man described as deputy military attaché at the Russian Embassy in Poland, attending a commemorative event Polish veterans of World War II in 2013, resembling the person of the photograph in the Interpol database.

French Intelligence has no doubt that Russian Spies Will Try to Disrupt Presidential Campaign

The General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), the main French Intelligence Agency, has no doubt that Russian spies are going to try to repeat the Trump election stunt by revealing the data and emails of Presidential candidates.

According to French investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine "hackers are bursting with energy in their attempt to disrupt the French presidential campaign".

The leading target of their attacks is the site of candidate Emmanuel Macron. The site had to face with at least 100 intrusion attempts last November, when the former minister announced his candidacy.

Ever since the polls began raising hopes of Macron making it to the second round against Marine Le Pen next May, they again -- and suddenly -- increased. Last January, the site had to deal with 1,922 attacks, 907 of which came from Ukraine.

Sputnik, news websites and radio broadcast service established by the Russian government-controlled news agency Rossiya Segodnya, relayed the threats made by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who claims to have "interesting information" about Macron.

Assange said "the data come from the private correspondence of former American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

France's Intelligence Agencies are convinced that an influence operation is being prepared.

Jihadist Recruitment Centers Operating From Ljubljana to Tetovo

There are more than 100 Jihadist Recruitment Center operating in the Balkans, most of them in Bosnia-Herzegovina, main Serbian online newspaper Blic wrote.

In addition to Bosnia-Herzegovina, where there are about 64 jihadist training camps, most such cells and recruitment centers are to be found also in Macedonia and Kosovo.

The main Serbian jihadist recruitment stronghold is in Novi Pazar and its environs.

Big Islamist strongholds are to be found in Sjenica, Novi Pazar, Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja.

The two most dangerous recruitment centers in the Balkans are located in Sarajevo and Zenica.

Bosnia-Herzegovina Police listed the village of Podgredina as one of the "most dangerous Wahhabi training spots."

Local people said at the time that they were against Wahhabi's coming to their village.

"The building of this house up in the hill where they worship was financed by some man in Austria and that is where they now congregate. On holidays, there are up to 30 cars up there," one of the local people said.

One of the most notorious Wahhabi strongholds is Gornja Maoca, that is in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the flag of the Islamic State was even raised at one time.

Jihadist recruitment and training centers have reportedly been discovered also in the environs of Ljubljana in Slovenia, in Rijeka and Split in Croatia, in Gusinje, Plav, and Ulcinj in Montenegro, and in Kumanovo and Tetovo in Macedonia.

Last summer, Novi Pazar's Furqan place of worship (mesjid) was identified as a place where radical Islam was being preached. Serbian security services said at the time that this was not a center where fighters were being recruited for the war in Syria but that through it one could establish contract with the fighters.

German Intelligence Has Findings Russian Attempts To Influence Bundestag Election Through Cyber Attacks

German Intelligence has accurate findings revealing that cyber attacks to influence Bundestag election are being carried out from Russia.

Frankfurter Allgemeine, widespread German daily, reported that Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the Federal Republic of Germany's domestic security agency, whose duties include counter-espionage, has stated that Russian “propaganda and influence-wielding operations” had been carried out by Russian State Agencies.

Russian state agencies are believed to wage cyber attacks under the guise of alleged hacker activists. Since the start of the Ukraine war, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has noted a “substantial increase” in Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns in Germany, and reports that there is a “massive deployment of Russian financial resources.”

According German Intelligence "these attacks took place under a bogus flag" and should be considered an "Advanced Persistent Threat" (APT), a sophisticated and ongoing threat to a complex IT infrastructure

"Russian State Agencies carried out propaganda and influence operations"

Hans-Georg Maassen, President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), stated that “cyber operations posing a possible threat to members of the German government, members of the Bundestag, and the staff of democratic parties are ongoing. The pointers to attempts to influence next year’s Bundestag election are solidifying”.

Hans-Georg Maassen expressed the fear that information stolen in that kind of attacks on computer systems would be used in the election campaign, for the purpose of discrediting politicians.

Serbian Intelligence Agencies Monitor 350 Jihadists Returnees from Iraq and Syria

Serbian Intelligence Agencies compiled a list of about 350 Jihadists from Kosovo and Metohija left to fight in Syria and Iraq, according Politika website.

Igor Becic, the chairman of the Serbian Security Services Control Committee, revealed that "11 jihadists have recently returned from Iraq and Syria".
According Igor Becic, Serbian Intelligence Agencies "have information and operational data as to where they were. They left under the pretext of attending education courses and have documents to prove it".

About 70 went from Sandzak and 17 members of the Chetnik Movement went to fight in the war in Ukraine.

Fighters from Kosovo and Metohija mostly go to fight in foreign wars for financial reasons, while those from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Sandzak mostly go for ideological reasons.co

Source within Serbian Intelligence Agencies said that "it is an open secret that jihadists from Serbia are recruited for Syria and Iraq by representatives of illegal agencies that supposedly offer training services for bodyguards and security officers".

Same source revealed that "a foot soldier in Iraq and Syria makes between 1,000 and 2,000 euros. The amount depends on how high up he is in the ISIL hierarchy. If he is a member of a special unit or commands a group, he is paid several thousand euros more".

These fighters first undergo ideological indoctrination, followed by seven days of training in the use of weapons, planting of explosives, sabotage, and so on.

Syria: Spanish Intelligence has resumed contacts with Bashar al-Assad

Spanish Intelligence ("diplomat") has resumed contacts with Bashar al-Assad in Syria, according Georges Malbrunot, well informed Middle East expert and blogger on French newspaper Le Figaro.

On November 28, Le Figaro wrote that "a Spanish diplomat has been located at a major hotel in Damascus" where he is in contact with security officials of Syrian Intelligence for an information exchange about "the numerous Moroccan jihadis passing trough Spain for going to fight in Syria".

Madrid has authorized a Syrian intelligence agent to work in the Spanish capital.