9 arrested in police crackdown on Daesh supporters in Macedonia

A total of nine people were arrested after Macedonian police initiated a major operation in several towns Thursday targeted against supporters and participants of the Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East.

The operation, code-named Cell, exposed an alleged structure for recruiting Macedonian citizens into IS activities in several Macedonian towns -- Skopje, Tetovo, Gostivar, Kumanovo and Struga.

Among the arrested are Macedonian citizens, with many probably still in battlefields in Syria, Macedonian Minister of Interior Mitko Chavkov told a press conference in Skopje Thursday.

An imam from Skopje, high-ranking priest of the Islamic Religious Community, is among the arrested. Police suspect him to be one of the main ideologists and organizers of the IS recruiting process.

"We have collected evidence against the arrested starting from September 2014 up until July 2015. In the final operation that started this morning, we have seized tens of laptop and desktop computers, mobile phones, phone cards, evidence for money transfers and one gun," Chavkov said.

The suspects are aged between 19 and 45 years. The ministry of interior claims there is strong evidence of their participation in activities of IS in other countries. In one of the mosques searched in Skopje, the police found the IS flag.

Chavkov said there is a risk that IS supporters might organize attacks on Macedonian soil.

"The fact that we have people participating in the activities in the IS and returning to our country shows that we face risk for attacks on our territory as well," he said.

According to the police intelligence, over 130 Macedonian citizens have fought for the cause of the IS in Syria and Iraq at some point. Most of them have already returned from the battlefields.

Macedonia amended its criminal law recently, envisaging sanctions for Macedonian citizens participating in either the military operations or the paramilitary formations abroad. The changes were made after over 10 Macedonian citizens were killed while taking part in the IS activities in the Middle East.

Experts said Macedonia's potential threat from radical Islamic groups is amplified with the huge inflow of migrants from turbulent regions in the Middle East.

"The security system is functioning well and our country can manage these threats. But it needs to be upgraded constantly because of the more sophisticated ways in which the extremists operate," former intelligence chief Zlatko Keckoski told Xinhua.