Criminals and terrorists are becoming ever more closely linked due to role of extremist groups such as Islamic State, new research claims.

The report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), based at King’s College London, gives a strong warning that European prisons will become stronger ‘breeding grounds’ for the jihadist movement and recommends a number of urgently needed changes to counter the threat.

Researchers at ICSR examined their database of European foreign fighters known to have criminal pasts and concluded that we are witnessing a ‘new crime-terror nexus’ – with criminal and terrorist groups recruiting from the same pools of people.  These synergies and overlaps have consequences for how individuals are radicalised and operate.

They say although the links between crime and terror are nothing new –the emergence of Islamic State and the ongoing mobilisation of European jihadists has meant the phenomenon has become ‘more pronounced, more visible, and more relevant.’

The report: Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus says they have not discovered a merging of organisation but moreover of their social networks, environments, or milieus.

 The researchers examined the profiles of 79 European jihadists with criminal pasts and found strong links between the worlds of crime and extreme radicalisation – particularly the role of prisons as a meeting and recruiting place for ‘angry young men.’