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Libya’s prime minister Fayez alSerraj predicted would-be jihadists were among tens of thousands who had been able to pass unchecked into his country. In a chilling prophecy, he said: “When migrants reach Europe they will move freely. If, God forbid, there are terrorist elements among the migrants, a result of any incident will affect all of the EU.” The comments by Mr Serraj, who heads Libya’s UN-backed unity government, lay bare how easy it is for terrorists to slip into Europe unvetted and travel freely due to the bloc’s border-free Schengen zone.

We need an international coalition to tackle the issue Jean-Paul Mulot

And they come just a week after the attacks in Spain which police have linked to radical groups based in north Africa. Independent MEP Steven Woolfe said: “These comments show the problem to be two-fold. Firstly, potential terrorists are using the Mediterranean migrant trail as a way of entering Europe unchecked. “Secondly, with Europe’s lack of borders due to Schengen rules, once in Europe, they are able to move from one country to another freely. Strong borders are a necessity.”

GETTY Libya’s prime minister Fayez al-Serraj predicted would-be jihadists are posing as migrants

Earlier this month the Daily Express warned more than 115,000 migrants have already reached mainland Europe by sea this year. Some 98,000 have made it to Italy after crossing the Mediterranean from north Africa, with the rest arriving in Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Besieged Italian authorities said most arriving by sea were aged between 20 and 30 and had travelled from Nigeria, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Eritrea, Senegal, Sudan, Morocco and Gambia. Thousands more have made their way to the north coast of France searching for a route to the UK.

This year more than 58,000 migrants have arrived in Italy and 1,569 have died Thu, June 29, 2017 An estimated 230,000 refugees and migrants will arrive in Italy this year as numbers of refugees and migrants attempting the dangerous central mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy continues to rise since the same time last year Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 11 Refugees and migrants wait in a small rubber boat to be rescued off Lampedusa, Italy

A French regional government source said almost all of the migrants in Calais are Africans who have come up from Italy. Jean-Paul Mulot, the Hauts-de-France region’s permanent representative to the UK, said: “The problem needs to be addressed locally but also at source, notably in Libya, where most migrants cross the Mediterranean to go to Italy and then Calais. We need an international coalition to tackle the issue.” Frontex, the European border and coastguard agency, continues to carry out rescue missions, while Libya threatens to shut its ports to boatloads of desperate migrants. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson revealed Britain was providing more than £9million to help stabilise Libya and tackle the threat of terrorism and people-trafficking.

GETTY

GETTY More than 115,000 migrants have already reached mainland Europe by sea this yea