The story is chilling. That of a Geneva cell of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) which had decided to implode the tanks located in the commune of Vernier, only a handful of kilometers from Geneva Airport. This story is “Le Temps” which delivers it, the fruit of an investigation lasting several months. A project that ultimately failed, notably thanks to the exchange of information between the American and Swiss intelligence services.
In Geneva, the disclosure of this case raised once again the question of the dangerousness of the industrial site. In charge of regional planning, the president of the Council of State Antonio Hodgers easily recognizes the “absurdity” of the presence of these tanks in an area which is now rather urban. But the situation seems more complicated than it seems. First, the Confederation would require the canton to keep strategic reserves of hydrocarbons on its soil. “We cannot say, in this matter, that Berne shows us unfailing support. Furthermore, it cannot be said either that the tenants concerned show a desire to collaborate with the Canton, “said the magistrate to explain the obstacles to relocating the tanks. One thing is certain, the Canton has decided to no longer grant surface rights to the plots it owns in 2032.
A partial move in 2032
It is still too far in the eyes of the UCD Stéphane Valente, for whom the situation is no longer tenable. The candidate for the municipal council can boast of not taking advantage of the news to speak about his person, him who had already sounded the alarm in 2012 by starting a hunger strike to denounce the presence of tanks on his common. “And at the time, the terrorist question did not arise yet, comments the Verniolan. You have to realize that eight years later, we are still at the same point. ” The latter says he is thinking of a new action to make things happen. “I won’t let go of the song.”
Mayor of Vernier, the socialist Martin Staub bitterly concedes his powerlessness to negotiate a faster departure from the tanks, which he considers to be “an aberration of development which unfortunately nibbles our territory”. “But we don’t have that power,” said the socialist, dismissing the canton and the Confederation from their responsibilities.
The case also reveals that the new head of security in Geneva, State Councilor Mauro Poggia, had not been made aware of the terrorist alert. While his predecessor Pierre Maudet saw himself dispossessed in the fall of this department, the MCG councilor took up the torch in September 2018 without having knowledge of the event. “I would have appreciated having this type of information sent to me,” replied the magistrate politely. Even though it appeared at the time that I took over the department, the security risk had just been lowered. ” Like Geneva police chief Monica Bonfanti, Mauro Poggia does not wish to be alarmist today, especially since no information to this effect has been transmitted to him. “In terms of risks, we probably expect more attacks targeting more symbolic places and not requiring significant logistical means.”
How was the attack foiled?
The central figure in this never-before-seen terrorist attack: Daniel D. or Abu Ilias al-Swisri, according to his nom de guerre within IS. Now 25, having grown up in Lignon, he converted to Islam in 2013 before joining the terrorist group two years later. From now on, the young man would be detained in a prison in Syrian Kurdistan where he would deny, according to “Le Temps”, the important role which he would have played and the dangerousness which one attributes to him. Daniel D. would have attended the Petit-Saconnex mosque, where he would have met “P.F. and Ramzi ”. The trio thus formed would have radicalized.
At the end of 2015, P.F. who stayed in Geneva also wanted to join his comrades in arms. Daniel D. would have deterred him, saying that the priority for IS is to target foreign countries and “sow chaos in the heart of Europe”. The hierarchy of the terrorist organization would then have asked the trio to plan an attack in Switzerland, by defining the targets and the manner of operating. This first project would have fallen into the water, assumes the daily, evoking dissensions of an ideological nature between P.F. and Daniel D.
The following? Daniel D. is said to have established other relationships with Swiss jihadists. According to “Le Temps”, it is difficult to establish when the idea of targeting Vernier’s cisterns was born and with whom Daniel D. would have planned the attack. But at the end of the summer of 2018, the American intelligence services would have transmitted documents to their Swiss counterparts, which detail this plan of attack in the canton of Geneva. A threat taken seriously by the Geneva authorities. Cantonal police chief Monica Bonfanti is said to have taken measures to protect the canton’s risky sites. The attack was apparently planned for “late April or early May 2019”.
Why did the attack fail? The daily does not answer them, nor does it explain in detail how Daniel D. was arrested in June 2019. But recalls (editor’s note: what could be an explanation) that the arrest of two Albanian nationals arrested on their way to Geneva could have played a role in the failure of the project. The numerous setbacks suffered by IS could also have contributed to an abortion of the attack.
Created: 02-14-2020, 20h51
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