Europol chief Rob Wainwright told Sky News that the deadly November terror attack, claimed by Daesh, a group banned in many countries including Russia, exposed the lack of coordination and intelligence data exchange in Europe.
“It’s certainly the highest terrorist threat we have faced for over 10 years and we need to up our game as a collective counter terrorist community to make sure we can protect our citizens from this,” Wainwright said, adding that “it is likely that we will have another attack.”
The Europol head added that the refugee crisis contributes to tension at Europe’s borders and the overall criminal situation, while Islamic radicalization poses another challenge to European security.
“At least 5,000 we think — that have been radicalised by ISIS [Daesh], very often online and have acquired conflict experience in Syria and Iraq. Many of them have since returned,” Wainwright said.
According to him, Britain would face significant security challenges should it vote to leave the European Union in the upcoming referendum.