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Before the start of the civil war in Syria Azedin Al Furat was a singer performing at celebrations in provincial cities in his country. There, he is known by the pseudonym al Sousou, as in his eponymous song.

After the conflict started, the 40-45-year old man recruited an armed Islamist group called Jund Al Islam and took the side of Jabhat al Nusra, a satellite organization of the Islamic State (ΙSIS). Jund al Islam is responsible for violent attacks and killings of Kurdish Syrians in the city of Ras al Ayn, on the border with Turkey.

In the spring of 2014 after attacks on a grain warehouse, the band was broken up by Kurdish rebels and Al Furat was forced to leave Syria and found refuge - first in Turkey and then in Greece. According to an investigation by the Kathimerini newspaper, he managed to enter the country through the eastern Aegean with the help of a smuggler, and is known among illegal immigrants by the pseudonym Ahmad the Palestinian. Although the identity of Azedin Al Furat is not registered in the archives of the police, officers of the Ministry of Public Order note that the Greek intelligence services, in cooperation with the United States and Great Britain, exchange information on the movement of persons suspected of terrorism. A source of Kathimerini says that in Kos, Rhodes, Chios, Samos, Mytilene and in other places officials from the National Intelligence perform systematic checks on foreigners on the list of suspects provided by the CIA.

According to testimonies of Syrian refugees who live in Athens, Al Furat appeared there in April 2014 for the first time, in a park near the Kosomouli tram stop in Neos Kosmos. He lives with Syrian refugees in an apartment near the self-organized Sunni mosque. "He was looking for a way to go to the Netherlands", a 44-year-old Syrian told Kathimerini. "He was looking for information on smugglers who could help him. He had tried to change his face, but was recognized by a Syrian refugee who lost his family after an attack of Jund al Islam".

After he was recognized, the compatriots of Al Furat decided to put him under surveillance until they could inform the Greek authorities. However, as the source of Kathimerini said, Al Furat managed to disappear. "He ran away through Macedonia, we found his traces in Serbia and we received information that he was arrested in Austria, where he has been imprisoned until today". The Austrian police confirmed to Kathimerini the arrest of Al Furat in a centre for emigrants in Treiskirchen where, according to information, conflict erupted when migrants recognized Al Furat.

"We made a commitment to move him, and we started our investigation. He was recognized on a video of jihadis, but there is no international warrant for his arrest. He is under observation, and in the coming months his request for asylum will be considered", the representative of the Austrian police Baumshlager told Kathimerini.

Representatives of the Ministry of Public Order and of the Counter-Terrorism Office deny the presence of Islamic radical groups in Athens. Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of Europol, Will van Gemert, told Kathimerini that 3,000 European jihadis went to join the hostilities after the start of the Syrian crisis and hundreds of people like Al Furat have returned to Europe with "disturbing combat experience". A special programme for the exchange of information between EU member states has been initiated under the name Focal Point Travellers for people travelling to and from military areas.

The second story that Kathimerini publishes is the one about 23-year-old Shamal Ahmad Tofik from Iraq who adopted radical Islam in Athens. It raises questions on the awareness of the Greek police.

Friends from his childhood in the town of Said Sada in Iraq, whom the newspaper contacted, explained that Shamal came to Greece in 2009 and remained until 2012, when he returned to Iraq. According to his friend, today’s ISIS fighter worked as a barber in his hometown, has 4 brothers from the second marriage of his father, drank alcohol and had sex, ignoring the tenets of Islam. In 2009, he passed through Turkey, then after paying € 3,000 to traffickers arrived in Athens where he found work without a residence permit. During this period he called his friends and said that in Greece he felt free.

Then he lost his job and was sleeping on the streets. According to his friends, while he was homeless Shamal met Pakistanis in Athens. "Many nights he stayed in the mosque and began to study the Koran. His behaviour turned 180 degrees", they say. From police records it becomes clear that Shamal was arrested in May 2011 by policemen in Achaia and a five-year ban was imposed on his entering the country. In 2012 he returned to Iraq under the programme for voluntary return. It is no accident that American immigration authorities have asked the Foreigners Directorate of the Hellenic Police and the International Organization for Immigrants to perform a check of the people included in the programmes for voluntary return to countries involved in war zones.

After his return to Iraq Shamal worked for about three months, then he married the niece of the leader of the militant Islamic organization Ansar al Islam. "During this period Shamal would call me, he wanted me to participate in Jihad, he said that Islam was the only religion in the world", said his friend for Kathimerini. Last summer he went to Syria with his wife and child and joined the ranks of the Islamic state.