Overview
- Prefectura Naval executed seven searches in Mar del Plata, Santa Clara del Mar and Buenos Aires with support from Migraciones, seizing nine firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and electronic devices.
- Those detained are a 52-year-old Syrian woman, a 33-year-old Tunisian, a 49-year-old Moroccan and a 60-year-old Argentine, with the three foreign nationals reported as naturalized and all set to be questioned by Judge Santiago Inchausti.
- The probe began after DNIC flagged a 2022 arrival of an Egyptian asylum seeker reported in international channels to have contacted a former Al-Qaeda operative, prompting a formal investigation in March 2024.
- Prosecutors from UFECO and PROTEX allege the group facilitated entries from Syria, Tunisia and Morocco using irregular crossings, simulated marriages and the misuse of refugee procedures to obtain provisional IDs.
- Investigators say no operational terrorism link has been confirmed, while they work to establish the network’s scope, the number of migrants moved and any overseas connections.