Faced with the recent escalation in the Middle East, Heiko Teggatz, head of the German Federal Police Union, warns that thousands could flee Iran for Europe, creating massive security risks. “There may already be supporters of the terror regime living among the people in Europe and Germany” he told the “Handelsblatt”. He added that European and German security services must be “extra vigilant to prevent potential attacks by sleeper cells”.
Teggatz insists a scenario like the 2015 wave must never happen again. That year, nearly a million refugees moved from Hungary through Austria into Germany. He calls an uncontrolled influx of thousands a grave security threat. “We need to know exactly who is coming into Europe or Germany” he told the Federal Chancellery, a point he stresses repeatedly.
Andreas Roßkopf, chair of the Police Union for the Bundespolizei and customs (GdP), urges a coordinated European response. “We cannot allow nationalistic unilateral actions” he said. Roßkopf condemns the practice of simply redirecting asylum seekers to neighboring countries-a tactic witnessed since 2015-as unacceptable in the present context.
