At a recent meeting in Brussels, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino drew the attention of her colleagues to the potential threat posed to Europe by members of Al-Qaeda as a result of irregular immigration. Quite rightly, she said that Al-Qaeda members could well be among the thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat from Africa.

Although she drew the distinction between a specific “terrorism threat” and “a security threat” posed by jihadists, she was no doubt mindful of the detention by the Italian police four years ago of two French nationals suspected of immigration offences who turned out to be key Al-Qaeda operatives planning an attack on Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

In making this point, she would also have been conscious of the need to drive home to fellow foreign ministers, especially those from northern member states, that the problems of irregular migration were not simply about the burden of numbers entering through the southern European front line states, like Italy and Malta, but also posed a wider security threat to all EU states. Italy wants the EU to launch a mission against human trafficking across the Mediterranean and the organised crime gangs that underpin it under the common security policy.

There has been an existential Al-Qaeda threat to Europe for over 20 years. The last few years since the mis-named Arab Spring have seen the Mediterranean become an increasingly more volatile sea. Jihadists are present in Syria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Mali, Somalia and elsewhere. Many of the irregular immigrants seeking asylum in Italy and Malta originate from there.

There are national and international security aspects to irregular immigration. For Malta, the uncertainties in the region and the proximity to the sources of irregular migration have a vital bearing on its security. The instability and political uncertainty throughout the Middle East, and the religious extremism present almost everywhere, should give the government serious pause for thought.

Could there be Al-Qaeda and other jihadist operatives among the migrants landing in Malta and what is the government doing about them?

Malta’s reception arrangements for immigrants arriving by boat from North Africa follow a standard procedure. The immigrants arrive without documents. On arrival, they are handed over to the police immigration authorities. The name, age, nationality and other personal details are registered and the fingerprints of migrants over 14 are taken. All receive a basic medical check-up. Any documents or personal belongings in the migrant’s possession are removed for security and investigative purposes.

It is immediately obvious that, by their nature, these procedures are inevitably fairly cursory and superficial.

It would be reassuring to feel that the immigration police and, possibly, the Malta Security Service carry out more detailed checks but there is no evidence that they do. Though, you never know!

As the asylum application process continues after the irregular immigrants are placed into detention, the Office of the Refugee Commissioner undoubtedly gathers more detailed information about each individual immigrant and the office has now built up considerable expertise in language analysis and identifying national and ethnic characteristics.

It is hoped that there is proper coordination and acute awareness between the police, the Security Service and the Refugee Commissioner over the need to be alert to the presence of jihadists in the immigrants’ midst.