News Desk

Italian police have detained two Bangladeshi youths over allegedly “releasing provocative videos about jihad” on TikTok.

Although police did not disclose the full identities of the two, according to local media reports, they were known as Himel Ahmed, 21, and Munna Tafadar, Italian television channel Sky TG24 reported in their online news portal.

They were detained from the southern Italian city of Palermo, Matteo Salvini, Italy vice president of the Council of Ministers and also the transport minister, was said to have confirmed on Saturday in the report.

In a post from his verified Facebook page, he said: "Italy has no place for those who promote terrorism and jihad. Expel right now!"

The two men were arrested in an operation led by the head of the Palermo prosecutor's office, Maurizio De Lucia, the report added.

The investigators said that the TikTok accounts of the two young men who were arrested in March and April were continuously releasing religious extremism, jihad-related and anti-Western content. These included many posts about the situation in Gaza, where they were accused of patronising jihadist ideology, according to the report.

They were also accused of researching ways to employ artificial intelligence in terrorist activities, while pictures of and propaganda relating to Osama bin Laden were found on several of their social media profiles.

The detainees were under house arrest under court orders and have been fitted with electronic GPS trackers, it added.

Local Bangladeshi expatriates declined to comment publicly on the matter. The Palermo Police Department said the investigation is still in progress.