GERMANY will secure the opening Euros game with a robust ring of steel made up of thousands of armed cops to shield against potential attacks.
Security expert Will Geddes, who has worked with Premier League clubs, told The Sun 22,000 cops will be dispatched for today’s match alone.
Inside the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, where the 2024 Euro championship kicks off today
Masked ISIS terrorists brandish the death cult’s flag
German cops take part in an operational drill to prepare for the Euros at a football stadium in MayEPA
The UEFA Euro 2024 championship presents a “wide spectrum of potential risks and issues” amid a “very high level of risk” from ISIS, he warned.
Will explained that the country’s special forces, intelligence services and armed police will be called up to help prepare for and defend against any possible attacks.
Crowds will be monitored closely under widespread CCTV, AI, the watchful eye of “super spotters” and plain-clothed officers, he said.
Will, who leads a team of security experts at International Corporation Protection (ICP), closely monitors ISIS chatter.
Working with analysts who have experience in military, intelligence and law enforcement, his team have seen ISIS make “very specific references to Germany“.
The prolific death cult has hurled out repeated threats against events like the Euros, Champions League and Paris Olympics in recent months.
Germany‘s interior minister Nancy Faeser told 350 foreign cops dispatched to help ahead of the event that the focus of security will be “above all on the threat of Islamist terrorism“.
Today’s game will see Scotland take on Germany at their Allianz Arena in Munich – which can hold up to 67,000 fans.
Over the course of the championship, Germany will play host to a whopping 2.7 million fans in 10 different stadiums – alongside 12 million more in fan zones.
Will explained that the mammoth security op will range from snipers spread around the stadium to “super spotters” hidden in amongst the public.
“There’s going to be a number of different layers of security”, he said.
“You have some 22,000 federal police that will be assigned particularly to the games… including hostile behaviour detection personnel.
“These are specialists looking for those indicators for individuals that may have malintent.”
Further “foreign and neighbouring countries police forces” brought in from across the globe will have had input from their own intelligence services and anti-terror units ahead of the match.
Will told The Sun that certain technology will be brought in to keep football fans safe.
“There’ll also be a hostile surveillance detection,” he said. “And this will be both human and electronic; AI using facial recognition.”
The Euros presents a real wide spectrum of potential risks and issues which have to be prepared for and protected against, at the moment we’re at a very high level of risk against Islamic state
Will Geddes
He explained special experts will be called in to scour for dangerous individuals already known to them – called “super spotters”.
The risk analyst said: “These will be people that will be implemented within the crowd, looking for key individuals that they have a record of.”
The overt measures will “include things like snipers” and possibly “members of special forces, and GSG 9, who will be working in a clean, close capacity, but within striking distance”.
GSG 9, meaning Border Guard Group 9 in German, is an elite special forces unit of the country’s federal police who focus on terrorism and violent crime.
APHundreds of German local and federal police practice security tactics ahead of the Euros in April[/caption]
ReutersGermany and Scotland fans in Munich on Thursday ahead of today’s match[/caption]
EPAGerman police tend to a mock casualty as they take part in an operational drill at the Stuttgart Arena in May[/caption]
ISISAn ISIS poster shows an armed terrorist about to exit a German train with a sign that reads ‘Welcome to Europe’[/caption]
THE RESURGENCE OF ISIS
In early February The Sun warned that the West could be facing a new “War on Terror” as ISIS gears up for a comeback.
Weeks later in March ISIS-K, a grim offshoot of the terror group, shot up and set fire to a concert hall in Moscow, killing some 140 people.
It marked the deadliest terror attack in Europe since 2004 and put other countries around the world on high alert.
Nancy Faeser warned at the time that it had raised “dangers to a new level”.
We’re entering a phase where people are now really much more aware of the serious Islamic threat of terrorism
Chris Phillips
In April, Dutch intelligence agency AIVD revealed that ten jihadist attacks were foiled across Europe in just the last year.
Will told The Sun: “At the moment we’re at a very high level of risk against Islamic state, also Islamic state in the Kharisan [ISIS-K], who were responsible for the attack on the Moscow concert hall.”
Repeated threats against Germany have been splashed over ISIS’ warped media channels since – with posters showing terrorists poised to attack its stadiums.
German police arrested a suspected ISIS terrorist who tried to sneak his way into a security guard job at one of the selected stadiums last week.
And a cop was killed in Mannheim after a lone knifeman attacked a far-right anti-Islam politician during a rally on Friday, May 31.
Although not confirmed as a terrorist attack, Germany’s federal prosecutor said they were taking over the investigation because of “clear indications” of an Islamist motive.
Chris Phillips, former Head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, told The Sun: “What we’re seeing across Europe actually is attacks that are growing in France and Germany.
“[Germany] have had an attack recently, where a policeman ended up getting killed.
“We’re entering a phase where people are now really much more aware of the serious Islamic threat of terrorism.”
I think [Germany] will be throwing everything they’ve got at securing these Euros. And that will be the military
Chris Phillips
Ahead of the Euros and also the Paris Olympics, Chris said: “We’ve got a series of big events coming, and of course, any big event is an attractive target to terrorists.
“All these big events are just impossible to fully secure.
“I know for a fact that German place and French police will be really concerned about it.”
In terms of the security operation at the Munich game, Chris said: “It’s a massive, multidimensional policing operation.
“And what the public see is just the tip of the iceberg.”
It will involve armed forces as well as police and intelligence operatives, he explains.
The former counter terror chief told us: “I think they will be throwing everything they’ve got at securing these Euros. And that will be the military.”
An ISIS-K poster threatening to attack a Champions League game in Germany
The site of the Crocus City Hall massacre in Moscow, March 2024
‘SOFT TARGETS’ & TRANSPORT HUBS
Will told The Sun that fan zones at the matches will need to be shored up today as any potential ISIS attackers could view them as “softer targets”.
He told The Sun: “The fan zones could be deemed as a softer target, particularly for terrorism.
The fan zones could be deemed as a softer target, particularly for terrorism
Will Geddes
“Where the stadiums themselves can be locked down only those with valid tickets can enter, but in the fan zones almost anybody can get through.
“Any individual entering those fan zones will be searched thoroughly to ensure that they do not carry any potential lethal implements or weapons on them that could be utilised for a terrorist attack.”
Will also explained why the entire city of of Munich will need to be on high alert.
He told The Sun: “Transportation networks and hubs are always going to be on their agenda.
“It’s going to be locations where there is a high concentration of people, because obviously they want mass effect in any attack.
“So bus terminals, train stations, metro networks. These are all going to be provided with a greater level of vigilance by law enforcement.”
GettyBusy transport hubs like train stations in Munich will have heightened security during the matches[/caption]
‘PERVERSE AGENDA’
Will told The Sun that levels of ISIS activity and chatter online has increased in recent months.
He said: “We are regularly monitoring the avenues and the channels that we’re aware of that ISIS supporters sympathisers are using.
“There has been a lot of chatter on many of the channels that they utilise; Islamic state, ISIS-K and those various different groups.
“Quite often they’ll be used on things like signal and in Telegram chat rooms and this is where they are trying to recruit and trying to enthuse their supporters to assist in exacting their distorted and perverse agenda.
“They have publicised certainly an attachment to Germany, they have made a very specific reference to Germany.”
There has been a lot of chatter on many of the channels that they utilise; Islamic state, ISIS-K and those various different groups
Will Geddes
Will said the activity online can be hard to fully categorise into tangible threats and “brave talk”.
He told us: “The intelligence agencies will again go through that filtering process, and there has been much chat around not only the euros, but also the Olympics.
“This is evident in the most recent arrests that have taken place before both of these events.”
DRONE THREAT
Chris Phillips, former head of UK Counter Terrorism, spoke to The Sun about the risk of drones in the hands of a group like ISIS.
Just days ago they made a threat against the Paris Olympics with a poster of a drone carrying what is presumably an explosive labelled “gift”.
Chris told The Sun: “I’ve always had a concern about drones and how they can be used.
“We have security levels, usually up to about 10 foot, 10 foot fences and of course, drones can be used to just flip over the top of those.
“And as we’re seeing drone technology take off, it’s a really concerning part of the threat.”
Someone that knows how to use drones and knows how to make a bomb. Put those two things together, and you’ve got a big issue
Chris Phillips
While security “across the world” grapples with the evolving threat posed by drone warfare, Chris said events like the Euros pose a unique risk.
He said: “In particular, of course, sports events where you can fly over the top of the over the top of the security into the stadium.
“You can buy a drone very easily that carries enough explosives to cause some damage.
“Someone that knows how to use drones and knows how to make a bomb. Put those two things together, and you’ve got a big issue.”
‘Acute’ terrorist threat across Europe
By Jessica Baker, Foreign News Reporter
THE threat of terrorism to the security of Europe is “acute”, the EU’s law enforcement agency has warned.
Europol said the top concern of EU countries is “jihadist terrorism” and foreign terrorist fighters who travel from conflict zones.
Some fear the terror group ISIS could be looking to leverage conflict in the Middle East to launch a fresh of attacks across Europe.
Ten jihadist attacks have been foiled by cops in Europe in the past 12 months alone, according to Dutch intelligence agency AIVD.
The agency claimed attacks planned and intercepted included stabbing rampages at major events and assaults on specific groups and venues.
Israel’s spy agency meanwhile alleged Iranian terror cells are plotting attacks across the continent ahead of the Paris Olympics.
The Olympics chief has promised a ring of steel at the Games’ opening ceremony and insisted “security is the priority” to ensure the safety of an expected 15 million fans and more than 10,000 athletes.