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Italian police on Tuesday arrested on terrorism charges two men in Milan who are accused of helping finance the Islamic State (IS) group and spreading propaganda online.
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An Egyptian citizen and an Italian of Egyptian origin were arrested in the early hours in the northern Italian city, police said.
They are suspected of taking part in, and encouraging, crime linked to terrorism, they said.
Milan’s chief prosecutor, Marcello Viola, said the men were accused of being “extremely active in propaganda and online proselytising on behalf of ISIS (IS)”.
In addition, they were accused of financing causes in support of IS and had “sworn an oath of membership and loyalty” to the group, he said.
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The AGI news agency reported that the two men were accused of sending money to an IS fighter and to the widows of IS fighters.
They were also accused of making threats to state institutions, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but were not ready to take action, AGI said.
It said there was no suggestion of a connection to the deadly attack in Brussels late on Monday that Belgium’s prime minister condemned as an act of “terrorist madness”.
Meloni’s two deputy prime ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, both hailed the arrests, with Tajani promising a “hard line against terrorism”.
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