Islamic State is smuggling fighters into Europe by telling them to shave their beards and disguise themselves as refugees, an investigation has found.

The militants are using gangs trafficking migrants over the Mediterranean to get IS members to the West.

Such jihadists are considered ‘prize operatives’ because they can travel undetected around Europe – and to Britain.

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Migrants sit in a detention centre in Tripoli, Libya, as part of a round-up of refugees before they could head to European shores. IS is telling its fighters to disguise themselves as refugees, an investigation has found

ISIS fighters outside Aleppo, Syria. The group is thought to be forcing families in refugee camps on the borders of Lebanon and Jordan to flee to Libya, and ordering the traffickers to hand over half their profits

IS is also funding terrorism by taxing the people smugglers. The extremists make £60,000 per boat of refugees who attempt the journey, it is claimed. Based on the number who crossed the Mediterranean last year – around 219,000 – IS could be making millions each year from the crisis.

The group is thought to be forcing families in refugee camps on the borders of Lebanon and Jordan to flee to Libya, and ordering the traffickers to hand over half their profits. The migrants are forced to join IS or take a seven-day Sharia law course before travelling to Europe.

Abdul Basit Haroun, adviser to the Libyan government’s intelligence service, said he had spoken to boat owners operating in IS-controlled areas, who said the group takes 50 per cent of their income.

Migrants wait to disembark from a ship in the port of Messina, Sicily. IS are using gangs trafficking migrants over the Mediterranean to get IS members to the West, as well as taxing the people smugglers

He told BBC 5 Live Investigates: ‘The IS … give permission for the boat owner to use the spot under their control and they charge them … 50/50 of whatever they make.

'They use the boats for their people who they want to send to Europe as the European police don’t know who is from IS and who is a normal refugee or not.

‘The boat owners have a list of who to take but some people come suddenly out of the list and they’re told, “Take them with you” … they come alone and in the boat they are not scared at all. They are for IS, 100 per cent.’

He added: ‘I think they do something for planning in future, not for today or tomorrow.’ Security consultant Aimen Dean, a former spy for UK security services, said jihadists were travelling with migrants because it meant they would have ‘no biometric data [in Europe] … no fingerprints, no nothing … these are really prized operatives’.

The investigation uncovered claims two Egyptian brothers travelled to Europe in March from Sirte, Libya, after traffickers told them IS offered safer, cheaper journeys.

CHILLING THREAT OF JIHADI SUPPORTERS IN ITALIAN CITIES ISIS fighters claiming to already be in Rome Flaunting their terror credentials, with Rome’s Colosseum as a backdrop, Islamic State supporters posted photos purporting to show they are already in Europe and counting down ‘till the zero hour’. The menacing images – apparently taken at landmarks and train stations in Italy, and published on Twitter – show a piece of paper displaying the IS logo and messages such as ‘Islamic State in Rome. We are in your streets.’ One ominous post was accompanied by the Arabic for ‘#Islamic State in Rome. Now is observing and locating for the target. Waiting for the zero hour.’ Some of the pictures show sites in Milan, including the city’s cathedral, and the venues of the global Expo exhibition. Police vehicles in the background of many of the pictures seem intended to underline the would-be terrorists’ boldness. However, the authenticity of the posts, which were published and translated by the terror watch website Site, cannot be independently confirmed. It is not the first time the jihadist group has identified Rome, the home of Christianity, as a symbolic target. Previously the militants’ magazine Dabiq published a mock-up of the black IS flag flying over St Peter’s Square, in the Vatican. The pictures emerged as the Libyan government warned that IS terrorists are on their way to Europe hidden among refugees crossing the Mediterranean. European ministers are set to meet today to consider naval and air strikes against Libyan trafficking gangs. Read more here Advertisement

They revealed IS offers would-be migrants the chance to stay and fight in Libya. If they insist on leaving they are given religious education, which they are told will protect them from temptations.

Mr Dean said the brothers were accompanied by two IS jihadists, bearded and in military uniform. Before embarking, they shaved and donned civilian clothes – and spoke fluent Italian and French.

European border agency Frontex has warned fighters may be using ‘irregular migration routes’. It said resources were not being devoted to ‘screening’ migrants and that ‘not knowing who is travelling within the EU is a vulnerability’.

Last night Sicilian authorities were criticised for abandoning the bodies of up to 750 North African migrants in their sunken boat.