The number of people involved in terrorist activities has risen in recent years, while online communication between jihadists has moved to closed platforms, a new report, released by the country’ Interior Ministry, said on Thursday.
“During the 2010s, there has been a significant increase in the numbers of people involved in jihadist activity in Finland,” the report, based on research of the University of Helsinki, said.
However, the document noted that the majority of those people were mainly associated with providing support to jihadists, such as recruitment or financial aid.
“Today there is a lot of talk about jihadist activity, but so far we have had very little research-based information on the situation in Finland. The aim of the research project was to construct a general picture of the forms of jihadist activity in Finland”, University Lecturer Leena Malkki, who contributed to the report, said.
One of the key factors that drove these people to join the ranks of terrorists was the increase of activity of Islamic State (terrorist group, banned in Russia) in Iraq and Syria.
The report stressed that the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) identified more than 80 people who traveled to the conflict area, adding that “the real number is probably higher.” Some 20 people have already returned to Finland, while another 20 were killed during the conflict.
According to the data, the recent mass influx of asylum seekers in Europe and, as a result in Finland, “increased the numbers of people with contacts to jihadist activity” in the country.
In the meantime, online communications between terrorists transferred to closer platforms following a huge crackdown by technology companies that started to delete the content instigating violence.
“As open online communication has become more difficult, jihadist online communication has moved to closed and encrypted channels. In the study indications were also found that these closed and encrypted channels had been and could still be used for disseminating jihadist content related to Finland and interactions associated with this,” the report concludes.
So far the only terrorism-related attack took place in Finland in 2017. Back then a rejected asylum seeker of Moroccan origin started stabbing people in the town of Turku. Two people were killed and eight others sustained injuries. The terrorist had been radicalized and pledged allegiance to Islamic State months before the tragedy took place. (UNI)
