Rome, Aug 2 (IANS/AKI) Authorities have deported a Pakistani man accused of seeking to stage a terrorist attack in Italy for the Islamic State (IS) group, Ansa news agency said.
Farook Aftab, 26, a warehouse worker in northern Italy, swore loyalty to the IS in a video posted to the Internet and "obsessively" viewed IS propaganda online, according to anti-terror investigators.
"I will carry out an attack and kill everyone, I know where to get the weapons," Aftab said in a intercepted conversation, according to the investigators.
A wine bar was among Aftab's planned targets and he was ready to "martyr" himself for Jihad, investigators said.
He also tried to bully his Pakistani wife into swearing allegiance to the IS and police found IS propaganda materials at the couple's home in the town of Vaprio D'Adda near Milan, investigators said.
Aftab had become "self-radicalised" over the past 12 months and "obsessively" downloaded and viewed IS documents and violent videos as well as advice on how to obtain arms and explosives, police said.
He also told friends and acquaintances he planned to travel to Syria and wage jihad, praising IS's deadly attacks in Europe including the crushing to death last month of 84 people by a Tunisian truck driver in Nice and the beheading a French priest in Normandy, according to investigators.
Aftab arrived in Italy in 2003 at age 13 and made several unsuccessful applications for citizenship, the most recent of which was in March.
--IANS/AKI
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