GENOA – An investigation carried out on Tuesday by Genoese magistrates captured a Pakistani terrorist cell linked to the 2020 attack of the former headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, police reported. 

 The group arrested had links to the Gabar Group and direct contact with Hassan Zaher Mahmood, the 27-year-old who injured two journalists in Paris at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's former base in 2020. He attacked the two journalists with a cleaver outside a press agency based in the building where the Charlie Hebdo office was before the 2015 attack. 

 The cell operated both in Italy and other European countries and has been accused of association with the aim of international terrorism. The investigation was carried out by agents of Digos and the Central Anti-Terrorism Service and coordinated by the Genoa prosecutor’s office with involvement from anti-terrorism offices of Spain and France, Europol’s European counter terrorism centre. 

 The majority of the terrorist cell moved between the Emilia Romagna region, the Iberian Peninsula and French territory. 

 The investigation that was being carried out for months, involved wiretapping and looking through electronic documents. 

 The prosecutor of Genoa and the director of Antiterrorism presented this information at a press conference held Tuesday at 1pm at the police station in Genoa. 

 Searches are still underway throughout Italy for supporters of the cell, as the investigation has not yet concluded. 

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