USM

Faculty - International Relations and Political Science

Related topic:
Combating and Preventing Terrorism in Romania

Directed by: Munteanu Liviu

Group RI-201
Teacher: Ejov Cristina

CHISINAU 2020

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SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………… .. 3

History of terrorist threats in Romania………………….…………………………………. 3

Successful terrorist attacks on Romanian territory……………………….………………4-5

Terrorist attacks failed on the Romanian territory……………………………….……... 5-6

Prevention and Combating Terrorism in Romania…………………………………………7

Anti-terrorist organizations in Romania………………………………………………….... 8

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..... 9

Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………. 9

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INTRODUCTION

Terrorism has not emerged recently. It is very old - it preceded the strategy of terror exercised by
the Roman legions on the populations of the occupied areas, surviving it - and, over time, has
manifested itself in all possible forms, from cave terrorism to cyberterrorism, depending on the
stage of civilization which mankind has reached, therefore by the means at its disposal, and
almost everywhere in the world. The means were always different, but the essence remained the
same: fear, destruction, murder. Unfortunately, terrorism, like war, is in a way part of the arsenal
through which the world denies itself, hates itself and destroys itself, believing that it is purifying
itself. Terrorism is an asymmetric, shadowy threat. Its evolution, from a number or sum of
terrorist acts to an apogee of fanaticism, cruelty and violence, to a terrorist war, also asymmetric
and perverse, is likely to generate the appropriate reaction of humanity, to trigger the anti-
terrorist war. Terrorism is not only the evil that pervades the planet, but it is the very evil in the
world, that is, our evil, the fanatical part between us and, often, within us, the obsessive
fanaticism of power, of revenge, of egocentrism, of punishment at all costs, of purification by
killing and destruction. Therefore, this phenomenon is specific only to the human environment.

History of terrorist threats in Romania

At the beginning of the 19th century in Romanian political life they have a series of unexpected
events took place, which defined a new phase in which Romanian life entered. These events
include participation in World War I, the creation of Greater Romania and the activation of the
nationalist Iron Guard movement which became a major political factor for that period which
acted to exploit the fear of communism and spread resentment against alleged foreign
domination. We will further present some aspects of the Romanian political life that highlight the
activity of some groups whose objectives can be classified as terrorist.

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Successful terrorist attacks on Romanian territory

1. 1920, December 8 - The 1920 attack on the Romanian Senate by the installation and
detonation of an artisanal bomb placed in the hall of the Romanian Senate by an anarchist-
terrorist group of far-left communist Jews. The attack was to lead to a "mass uprising" and chaos,
the overthrow of the monarchy and the installation of a Bolshevik regime in Romania. The attack
was staged out by Max Goldstein (leader of the group), Saul Osias and Leon Lichtblau. The
explosion killed the Minister of Justice, Dimitrie Greceanu, the senators Demetriu Radu and
Spirea Gheorghiu. As a result of the attack, the President of the Senate, Constantin Coandă, the
Orthodox Bishop Nifon Nicolescu and the Orthodox Bishop Roman Ciorogariu were also
injured.

2. 1984, December 4 - The assassination of the Vice Consul of the Jordanian Embassy Azmi Al-
Mufti in Bucharest was the only situation in the national anti-terrorist history in which
specialized structures did not catch the threat before it materialized. The vice-consul was shot
dead by Ahmad Mohammed Ali Al-Hersh, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin studying in
Romania, under the orders of the Palestinian terrorist organization Fatah, who wanted to give a
warning to states he considered hostile to the Palestinian people. In 1985, the attacker was
sentenced to 20 years in prison.

3. 1985, May 26 - The bombing in Grozăvești Two improvised explosive devices were placed
under two cars parked in front of the student dormitories in the Grozăvești student complex in
Bucharest. The attack was carried out by four members of the Muslim Brotherhood and targeted
Syrian students in Romania, considered enemies of the organization.

USLA forces intervened quickly to manage the situation and avoid injuring students. The first
step was to divert traffic and evacuate nearby homes and buildings. While USLA officers were
studying one of the bombs, they noticed that it had two detonating fuses. Even though they did
not have the necessary technical support, a superior from the State Security Department ordered
them to neutralize the device. Unfortunately, the approach had tragic consequences, resulting in
the death of the two USLA officers: Lieutenant Colonel Donner P. Alecsandru (50 years old) and
Captain Vidrean I. Ion (33 years old). Subsequently, by using specialized techniques, the second
device was defused, without any more victims.

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4. 2002, November 6 - The grenade attack at Jean Monnet High School was committed by
Dragoș Ciupercescu, the first Romanian convicted of terrorism. On the night of August 10 to 11,
2002, the man stole, from the ammunition depot of UM 01348 in Bucharest, seven F1 type hand
grenades, ten warheads for this type of ammunition and 144 7.65 caliber cartridges for the
Carpathian Md pistol. On November 6, 2002, Ciupercescu detonated one of the stolen grenades
on the sidewalk in front of the "Jean Monnet" High School in the Capital, injuring five students.

A few days later, on March 14, 2003, he placed another grenade on an alley frequented in
Cismigiu Park, but the grenade did not explode.

Terrorist attacks failed on the Romanian territory

1. 2000, April 8 - The explosive device in front of the “Irish Pub” in the University Square in
Bucharest was under a car parked in front of the place. An improvised pipe-type device with a
diameter of about eight centimeters, filled with plastic explosive (Semtex) and remotely
controlled by radio, was placed just below the driver's seat. There is a suspicion that the device
was placed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, classified as a terrorist organization. Target: the
owner of the car, a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin, a relative of one of the leaders of the
Romanian branch of the PKK. The explosion would have had devastating effects if it had not
been defused, due to its location, being a crowded area and full of tourists.

2. 2006, June 27 - The car bomb attack in Timiș was foiled by the forces of the Romanian
Intelligence Service (Anti-Terrorist Brigade). Following a two-year monitoring, the Romanian
authorities captured Lesch Florian Ioan, 35 km away from Timișoara, the city where he intended
to remotely detonate the car-trap he was driving and where he had placed an FDI built after
consulting some sketches from the internet (two methane gas cylinders and a mobile phone to
whose bell was attached an electric stove igniter). During the post-incident investigation it was
established that the bomb was functional and in case of detonation, it would have caused
substantial damage. Lesch Florian Ioan converted to Islam in the late 1990s and self-radicalized
under the influence of the Internet. He promoted in his circle of relations and on the Internet
extremist messages and urges to action against Romania, motivated by the military involvement
of our country in the fight against international terrorism. In 2008, the attacker was definitively
sentenced to 12 years in prison for acts of terrorism. He is also known as the terrorist in slippers.

3. 2013, July 8 - The attack at the University of Iasi was carried out by Constantin Oliver Stan, a
Romanian citizen with mental problems not affiliated with a terrorist organization tried to
detonate an IEDpe that he had on him in a classroom of the Faculty of Telecommunications from
the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, during the bachelor's exam. At the level of the
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Romanian intelligence community, he is not considered a terrorist, but he acted on the basis of a
specific terrorist modus operandi. The individual, a former student of the Faculty of Electronics
and Telecommunications in Iași, entered a room where there were 45 students and four teachers
and announced that he had a bomb on him that he would detonate if the police did not come to
talk to him. he. While the people in the room were trying to persuade him to give up, in a
moment of agitation, he accidentally operated the device, which did not explode due to the poor
workmanship of the trigger mechanism. Two of the students immobilized him and called the
authorities who detained him.

4. 2015, December 1 - The December 1 parade bombing on the occasion of Romania's national
day, it is assumed that a leader of the Youth Movement 64 (HVIM) intended to detonate an
explosive device in Târgu Secuiesc. Following this attack, Beke Istvan Attila was suspected of
terrorism and arrested for 30 days. Investigators found during searches in Covasna, at the
building used by Beke Istvan, hundreds of explosives and electronic devices that allowed remote
control, two military night vision devices (NVG), but also a firing range. It is alleged that he
acted at the urging and request of Szőcs Zoltán, the leader of the HVIM Szekler Fair cell. The
High Court of Cassation and Justice has definitively sentenced Beke Istvan Attila and Szőcs
Zoltán to five years in prison each for the crime of terrorist acts.

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Prevention and Combating Terrorism in Romania

The Romanian Intelligence Service is a national authority in preventing and combating terrorism.
It is a complex responsibility, which requires concerted measures and actions: gathering
information, multi-source analysis, monitoring, anti / counterterrorism intervention, cooperation
with public institutions and authorities that are part of the National System for Preventing and
Combating Terrorism (SNPCT), as well as with international partners.

Our mission is to protect Romania from the terrorist threat. Our goal is to identify and eliminate
vulnerabilities and risk factors, to thwart the intentions and plans of terrorist entities and, last but
not least, to prevent the import of terrorist issues from conflict zones to our country and the
European space. To accomplish this mission, three distinct departments are joining forces:

The department dedicated to gathering information ensures the constant monitoring and analysis
of terrorist risks at national level and in relation to the global evolution of the terrorist
phenomenon.

The Anti-Terrorist Brigade provides missions for: anti-terrorist intervention (prevention),

through specific measures of diplomatic security at the objectives under the responsibility of
SRI, security of flights of air operators registered in Romania, security control at all 16 existing
civil aviation airports in the country and pyrotechnic interventions at the objectives in permanent
or temporary liability; counterterrorism intervention (combat), through tactical and / or
pyrotechnic measures at national level.

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Anti-terrorist organizations in Romania

1. CCOA- The Center for Anti-Terrorist Operational Coordination is the SRI's interface with the
national institutions and authorities that are part of the SNPCT. In a situation of terrorist crisis, it
ensures, logistically and operationally, the functioning of the National Center for Anti-Terrorist
Action (CNAA), an ad-hoc activated structure for solving the situation of terrorist crisis.

2. USLA- The unit was established on December 15, 1977 under the name of the Special
Counter-terrorism Unit as a result of the emergence of terrorist threats that were directly or
indirectly aimed at Romania. USLA confronted attempts by members or sympathizers of
different terrorist organizations to enter Romania. These organizations did not limit themselves
to precursory acts of preparing violent actions, but they also tried to organize terrorist attacks, the
targets generally being foreign official representatives in Bucharest.

3. SRI- The Anti-Terrorism Unit within the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) consists of five
interconnected departments. The first two, the informative and the analytical one, ensure the
collection of information, respectively the analysis of terrorist risks at national level, in relation
to the international evolution of the phenomenon.

4. The Anti-Terrorist Brigade provides anti-terrorist intervention missions (prevention),

through specific diplomatic security measures to the objectives under the responsibility of SRI,
security of flights of air operators registered in Romania, security control at all 16 existing civil
aviation airports in the country and pyrotechnic interventions at objectives under permanent or
temporary responsibility. The counter-terrorism (combat) mission of the Brigade involves
tactical or pyrotechnic measures at the national level.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, I can say that terrorism has become a phenomenon with global implications,
difficult to control, prevent and manage. It does not present itself only as a crime, as an atypical
reaction, to a certain evolution of the political and social systems, but it becomes a major
problem of the human society as a whole, being a dynamic and complex, asymmetric violent
action of the evolution of the social systems towards performance, balance and relative stability.
In Romania, terrorist attacks occur less frequently than in other EU countries, but still for the
security of the country, anti-terrorist organizations are implemented that are ready at any
moment to fight attacks.

Bibliography
1. https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%C4%83_de_atentate_teroriste_%C3%AEn_Rom
%C3%A2nia#Atentate_teroriste_reu%C8%99ite_pe_teritoriul_Romaniei
2. https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-19083826-terorismul-islamic-romania-cele-mai-
grave-crize-cati-teroristi-vizitat-ultimii-ani-cum-dejucau-securistii-lui-ceausescu-
atentatele-teroriste-vorba-buna.htm
3. https://www.sri.ro/prevenirea-si-combaterea-terorismului
4. https://cssas.unap.ro/ro/pdf_studii/securitatea_si_apararea_tarii_in_contextul_ameninta
rilor_teroriste.pdf
5. https://intelligence.sri.ro/antitero-snapshot/
6. https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/evenimente/romania-de-la-colaborarea-cu-
teroristi-temuti-la-lupta-antiterorista-677072

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 Summary:

This paper refers to Combating and Preventing Terrorism in Romania.

I have included some of the general history of terrorism in Romania, as well as some terrorist
attacks that took place on the territory of the country but also some that failed, such as: “2002,
November 6 - The grenade attack at Jean Monnet High School was committed by Dragoș
Ciupercescu, the first Romanian convicted of terrorism.” and failed :” 2013, July 8 - The attack
at the University of Iasi was carried out by Constantin Oliver Stan, a Romanian citizen with
mental problems not affiliated with a terrorist organization…” , there is also information on the
prevention of terrorism, some actions and organizations that have been set up to combat
terrorism: “The Romanian Intelligence Service is a national authority in preventing and
combating terrorism. It is a complex responsibility, which requires concerted measures and
actions: gathering information, multi-source analysis, monitoring, anti / counterterrorism
intervention, cooperation with public institutions and authorities that are part of the National
System for Preventing and Combating Terrorism (SNPCT), as well as with international
partners.” And the organzation “USLA- The unit was established on December 15, 1977 under
the name of the Special Counter-terrorism Unit as a result of the emergence of terrorist threats
that were directly or indirectly aimed at Romania. USLA confronted attempts by members or
sympathizers of different terrorist organizations to enter Romania. These organizations did not
limit themselves to precursory acts of preparing violent actions, but they also tried to organize
terrorist attacks, the targets generally being foreign official representatives in Bucharest.”.

Finally I wrote a conclusion and a bibliography: “terrorism has become a phenomenon with
global implications, difficult to control, prevent and manage. It does not present itself only as a
crime, as an atypical reaction, to a certain evolution of the political and social systems, but it
becomes a major problem of the human society as a whole, being a dynamic and complex,
asymmetric violent action of the evolution of the social systems towards performance, balance
and relative stability. In Romania, terrorist attacks occur less frequently than in other EU
countries, but still for the security of the country, anti-terrorist organizations are implemented
that are ready at any moment to fight attacks.”.

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