(ANSA) - Rome, August 21 - Anti-terror police sources told ANSA Friday they are probing arranged marriages between destitute Italians and foreign nationals for possible terrorist links. The probe was sparked by an ANSA investigative report.
The Italian spouses are being recruited in squats and soup kitchens in the Italian capital by what police said is a clandestine network that hooks them up with would-be immigrants awaiting them in Egypt, police said.
The prospective immigrants allegedly pay thousands of euros for such arranged marriages.
The weddings take place in Egypt with Coptic Christian or Catholic rites, after which the foreign national applies for residency in Italy.