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Marrakech – Italian police arrested a 22-year-old man in Reggio Emilia on charges of recruitment for international terrorism, as reported this Monday by Italian media. The suspect, an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin, had allegedly planned a knife attack targeting crowds in the northern Italian city’s historic center.
The operation was launched last Thursday, coordinated by the Digos political police units of Reggio Emilia and Bologna, Italy’s Central Directorate for Prevention Police, and the anti-mafia and anti-terrorism directorate in Bologna. Investigators acted on intelligence indicating the man intended to carry out a stabbing rampage along the central streets of Reggio Emilia.
The timing compounded the threat. A Serie A basketball playoff quarterfinal was drawing thousands of spectators that evening. A music event was underway simultaneously in the central Piazza San Prospero. Officers from the Digos and the Squadra Volanti located the suspect walking alone on Via Roma, just off the main Via Emilia thoroughfare.
The man was not unknown to authorities. Italy’s Central Directorate for Prevention Police had monitored him since 2024, when he was arrested in Germany. During his detention there, he repeatedly declared allegiance to the Islamic State and expressed willingness to act on its behalf. German authorities deemed him socially dangerous and expelled him in January 2026.
Upon his return to Italy, the Reggio Emilia police headquarters, working with the local mental health center and social services, enrolled him in an assistance and deradicalization program. That effort collapsed after investigators identified his phone number inside messaging chats linked to the planning of terrorist acts.
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The subsequent investigation revealed the 22-year-old had been in contact through a messaging platform with a suspected Daesh affiliate. That individual allegedly offered to train and finance him for an attack, either in Italy or abroad.
The suspect reportedly consented and reaffirmed his loyalty to the Islamic State. His phone was seized. A pretrial judge validated the arrest Monday morning and ordered his continued detention at the Reggio Emilia prison. Investigations remain ongoing.
The arrest marked the second terrorism-related detention in Italy within five days. On May 20, Florence’s Digos unit arrested a 15-year-old Tunisian national on identical charges. The minor, who had been in Italy for three years, had previously been placed in a juvenile residential facility in October 2025 over the same accusation.
A judge had ordered a probationary program in March 2026, but the teenager resumed contact with suspected Islamic State-linked accounts almost immediately after its revocation. Investigators found images of known Islamist militants on his phone and evidence he had sought instructions on targets and weapons.
Both cases follow the May 16 attack in nearby Modena, where Salim El Koudri, a 31-year-old of Moroccan origin born in the province of Bergamo, drove a car into seven pedestrians and stabbed several people who attempted to intervene.
Prosecutors have not confirmed a terrorist motive in that case, though investigators reportedly found evidence on his devices of recent interest in European attacks. His arrest on charges of massacre and aggravated assault has been validated, and the investigation continues.
