The suspect, named by Ansa as 23-year-old Elmahdi Halili, was detained in the north-western city on suspicion of "participating in the terrorist association Islamic State [Isis]".

The Moroccan-Italian is said to be the author of the first piece of Italian-language Isis propaganda.

READ ALSO: Italian anti-terror police arrest man accused of links to Isis

Police believe he hoped to organize attacks in Italy using trucks and knives, and may have tried to recruit "lone wolves" to carry them out.

"It was time to intervene. We couldn't afford to wait until he identified a target to strike," said the head of Turin's special operations police squad, Carlo Ambra.

Halili is known to have contacted a number of people, both Italians and foreign nationals, some of them already known to police, in what investigators believe was an attempt to recruit them for acts of terrorism.



A police handout of Elmahdi Halili. Photo: Polizia di Stato/AFP

Police conducted a total of 13 searches as part of Wednesday's operation, raiding premises in Milan, Bergamo, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Naples.

Several other people are reported to be under investigation, accused of attempting to radicalize others online.

Halili has already been convicted of terror-related charges once before, in 2015, when he was found to have published Isis texts on the internet.

He was sentenced to two years in prison as part of a plea deal. After his release police found that he continued to publish material glorifying terrorist acts, including videos of Isis violence and its militants in Syria and Iraq, as well as playlists of speeches by infamous radical Islamists.

"He's a highly motivated individual with no intention of reforming," Ambra said.

As officers led him away on Wednesday, he reportedly shouted: "Tyrants! I'm going to prison with my head held high."

READ ALSO: Rome tightens security for Easter amid false terror alerts

His arrest comes the day after a separate operation that saw an Egyptian-Italian man detained in the southern city of Foggia, where he was accused of attempting to indoctrinate youngsters at a Muslim cultural centre.

Police are also investigating a teacher from the city now working in Ferrara, an Italian citizen who converted to Islam and who is believed to have been in contact with the man arrested, it was reported on Wednesday.

Though neither man arrested this week was in Italy illegally and both are Italian citizens, the leader of the populist right League party, Matteo Salvini, called on Wednesday for tighter controls of Italy's borders and an immediate halt to migrant arrivals by sea.

He referred to comments from the European border agency Frontex, which said this week that unregulated crossings from North Africa into Europe raised security concerns, amid a level of terrorist threat that remains high.

READ ALSO:</s>Police in Italy arrested on Tuesday an Egyptian-born man suspected of being a member of the militant group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). The man was also accused of indoctrinating young children and encouraging them to kill non-Muslims, Reuters reported. Abdel Rahman, 59, was head of the Al Dawa Islamic center in the southern city of Foggia, and police said they believed he used the position to promote “terrorist activities” and spread jihadist propaganda. Rahman had been placed under surveillance for months and his classes with local children were wiretapped. Rahman is married to an Italian woman and has obtained Italian citizenship.</s>Overheard: “A slice of pizza would have been perfect with this wine.”

The stars shone at the well-attended evening hosted by Stefania Costanza, the consul general of Italy, and Salvatore Ianniello of Enit, India representative, Italian State Tourist Board, at JW Marriott Mumbai in Juhu. The inaugural Volare Awards were presented that night, feting the achievements of accomplished film personalities who have done their bit in promoting Indo-Italian ties.</s>ROME (Reuters) - Italian anti-terrorism police on Wednesday arrested an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin who they said was an Islamic State sympathizer planning a truck attack.

It was the latest in a series of arrests this month involving suspected supporters of Islamist terrorism and came as Italy stepped up the number of foreigners it expels.

Elmahdi Halili, 23, arrested in the northern city of Turin, “was studying how to prepare a truck for an attack”, Francesco Messina, the city’s police chief said. “He was learning how to use a knife and looking into where and how to attack.”

Assailants in London carried out three vehicle attacks last year. In 2016, militants mowed down scores of people in Nice and Berlin.

Police said Halili received a two-year suspended prison term in 2015 for “instigating terrorism” by running a website praising Islamic State and hailing the attacks it or its supporters perpetrated in Europe.

It was not immediately possible to seek comment from Halili or anyone representing him.

“The terrorist risk is very high,” said Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, which is in talks to form a government after the inconclusive March 4 election.

“We want immediate action, so everyone who crosses our borders by sea or land be monitored and that all (migrant) boat arrivals on our coasts be suspended,” he added. Almost 120,000 boat migrants reached Italy from North Africa last year.

Wednesday’s police operation targeted an undisclosed number of accomplices, both foreign and Italian, some of whom had converted to Islam and were part of “a campaign of radicalization”.

In an interview in Wednesday’s Turin newspaper La Stampa, Interior Minister Marco Minniti said the security threat to Italy from supporters of Islamic State was higher than ever.

He attributed this to more foreign fighters attempting to return to Europe via Italy after Islamic State suffered defeats in Syria and Iraq.

On Tuesday in southern Foggia, police arrested an Egyptian-born man suspected of being an Islamic State member and of indoctrinating children in a cultural center he ran. He encouraged them to kill non-Muslims, police said.

On March 15, police acting on a tip from the U.S. FBI arrested a man of Latvian origin who they said had been preparing pipe bombs. A judge’s detention order said the man had been considering an attack on a kindergarten.

In recent months, Italy has stepped up expulsions of foreigners believed to be a threat to national security. So far this year, 29 have been expelled, most of them Muslims, compared with 132 for all of 2017.
Italian counter-terror police arrest Elmahdi Halili on suspicion of planning attacks with knives and lorries, attempting to recruit terrorist attackers, and creating the first piece of Islamic State propaganda in Italian.