Police in Switzerland have arrested an alleged Islamic State fighter said to have lived in the country as an asylum seeker for at least six months.
Police arrested the suspected fighter on Saturday, according to the Swiss Public Ministry. Authorities said he had lived at an asylum home in the town of Altstätten before being sent to another centre in Kreuzlingen, 20 Minutes reports.
Other migrants living in the Altstätten asylum home say the suspect acted in a manner where he became a leading figure in the residential home, giving out orders. While some migrants complained about the way the alleged jihadist was acting, authorities did nothing to stop him.
Following his transfer to Kreuzlingen, several migrants came forward stating that they recognised the suspect, claiming that he had been an Islamic State militant. A short time later, a picture emerged of the suspect dressed in battle fatigues, which convinced prosecutors who then had the suspect arrested.
Since the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, many have warned that Islamic State would use the uncontrolled flow of people as a means to insert fighters from the Middle East into Europe.
A German intelligence report from 2016 stated that hundreds of Islamic State fighters had come to the continent disguised as asylum seekers.
The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) indicated that Islamic State leaders had gone as far as training fighters on how to apply for asylum once they managed to reach Europe.
Such fears were confirmed last year when a Syrian asylum seeker on trial for being a member of a terrorist cell admitted that Islamic State had sent him to Europe disguised as an asylum seeker.
Mohamed A., 27, told a judge that commanders had told him to enter Europe as an asylum seeker and wait in Germany for instructions.