Napulsi Abdel Salem

The Operation Mosaic arose from the investigative developments following the terrorist attack in Berlin in December 2016. Investigations focused on individuals around the terrorist Anis Amri and disarticulated a criminal network involved in the production and delivery of forged Italian documents to irregulat migrants; Anis Amri himself had been a beneficiary years before. The operation was therefore part of a broader investigation aimed at striking criminal organisations dedicated to criminal activities, also instrumental to international terrorism. Within this context, the figure of Napulsi Abdel Salem emerged. Napulsi Abdel Salem was born in Palestine (presumably) on 17/11/1980. According to investigators, Napulsi is believed to be Tunisian, and the name provided to law enforcement is likely false. He was homeless in Italy for several years and tried different times to pass himself off as a Palestinian citizen with the intention of obtaining the asylum seeker status. Following a check where he failed to provide valid documents or indicate a residence, he ended up at the Identification and Expulsion Center in Turin. Subsequently, Napulsi Abdel Salem stayed in Latina until 2017 (the year of his arrest) and had frequent contacts with Khazri Mounir (Directly connected to the Berlin attacker Anis Amri). They were arrested and detained at the Regina Coeli Prison in Rome due to their involvement in criminal activities related to narcotics; an arrest warrant was executed in November 2017, leading to his detention in Rebibbia Prison in Rome. Later, Napulsi made a phone call to a third party claiming that the agents who had stopped him were undoubtedly from the anti-terrorism unit. He suggested that the operation was solely to acquire and view images and videos on his tablet, implying full awareness of the illegality of self-training activities undertaken for planning terrorist acts. A significant amount of heroin and crucial evidentiary material were seized, including a tablet which provided important evidence related to Napulsi’s extremist ideology.
The investigations had revealed several elements of danger: self-training online, connections with fundamentalists in Latina (the same group that Anis Amri frequented), promotion of values such as the liberation of Palestine and the war against the West, and resentment towards women’s emancipation to a general hostility towards globalization. The arrest order highlighted that the preventive actions of law enforcement, in collaboration with the prosecution, prevented the phase of radicalization and training from escalating into a terrorist attack (interceptions seemed to reveal a planned attack on Metro B, specifically at the Laurentina station in Rome). Intercepted conversations with Khazri Mounir revealed Napulsi’s radicalized ideology envisioning and describing violence against citizens of Western countries guilty of not respecting the rules and customs of the Quran, in detail the execution of citizens using techniques prescribed by ISIS (indiscriminate killings, beheading and genital mutilation). The intercepted conversations explicitly referenced to: Afghan combattants as role models, praising them for resisting countries that tried to fight against them and adhering to Sharia law; ISIS attack in Ben Guerdene in 2016; disdain for Tunisia as a despicable place because its population does not follow the Sharia law and allow women to go unveiled; concerns about Western (Italian) customs, harshly judging Italian women; France as an hypothetical place to live due to the presence of Sharia law because of its strong Muslim community. Moreover, the intercepted conversations indicated that Napulsi was convinced of being under surveillance (stating that “the dogs are listening”) and of being followed by authorities since he was flagged as a terrorist in his home country. In fact, Napulsi and Khazri both displayed suspicious attitudes towards authorities, employing counter-surveillance techniques, and demonstrating awareness of potential attention due to their ideologies. When the DIGOS (Italian police unit for combating terrorism and organized crime) discovered that he was about to buy a pickup truck, the red alert was triggered. Napulsi and Khazri were stopped in Rome in November 2017 for a check and arrested for drug possession. The investigations on his tabled revealed that Napulsi was training himself to become a possible terrorist. He continuously downloaded videos/material on the ideology advocated by ISIS, particularly on: speeches by the spokesperson of ISIS Abu Mohamed al-Adnani and by the so called Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; videos on the history of the Caliphate; videos on stories of various Islamic preachers who advocated radicalism; videos explaining how to operate rockets and sniper rifles. Napulsi has engaged in self-training through historical and political events of radicalism, embracing the extremist ideology, and operational self-training in the planning and execution of terrorist attacks (31 videos viewed on terrorism techniques, anti-terrorism techniques implemented in Western countries, tutorials on weapons such as the GP9, RPG7, Barrett 50 Caliber, and Diana air rifles); specifically he delved into the RPG7 within three different internet pages related to its effectiveness against armored vehicles, its usage methods, costs, and acquisition methods. This demonstrated his concrete willingness to ideologically align himself with the radical fringe of Islamism promoted by ISIS. Moreover, to evade computer checks and bypass alerts implemented by counter-terrorism activities, Napulsi operated in the deep web, using untraceable keywords (crossing multi-meaning words and sites not tracked by Google) to search for materials or information on how to build or modify compressed air weapons, obtain ammunition, and even acquire heavy and armored vehicles.
For these reasons, the prosecutor charged him with a four-year imprisonment in Italy for the crime of self-training: Napulsi viewed propaganda videos related to Islamic terrorism, acquired instructions on the use of firearms, examined the possibility of purchasing or leasing heavy transport vehicles suitable for mounting war weapons, and downloaded and viewed methods of acquiring freely available weapons. The first two behaviors are related to the concept of self-training, while the last two involve significant material actions indicating the intent to carry out acts of terrorism. Napulsi has declared his ‘innocence,’ admitting to being only a drug dealer and claiming to have viewed the videos – part of the charges – only out of curiosity and interest. The judge’s ruling regarding Abdel Salem Napulsi entailed expulsion from Italy upon completion of his sentence.