Nine held in Italy for links with Turkish Hezbollah

Rome, Feb 22 (IANS) Nine people have been arrested in Italy for alleged links with Sunni Islamic militant group Turkish Hezbollah and for running an illegal immigration ring, media reports said.

Citing the ANSA news agency, Xinhua said the suspects were arrested in Terni city. They reportedly helped Palestinian and Kurdish migrants reach Italy illegally.

The suspects provided the migrants counterfeit documents after telling local authorities false stories of torture in their country of origin, on the basis of which they sought political asylum and a residence permit, the report said.

Turkish Hezbollah, unrelated to the Lebanese Shia Muslim militant group Hezbollah, was founded in Turkey in the 1980s with the goal of establishing a Sunni Muslim society in the country, according to the US National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

According to AKI, police launched a probe after a Turkish national -- wanted on an international arrest warrant -- was held in Italy's northern Lombardy region.

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