ZeroFox Physical Security Intelligence Daily Brief - February 1, 2025

ZeroFox Physical Security Intelligence Daily Brief - February 1, 2025

ZeroFox physical security experts collect, curate, and analyze information derived from open and proprietary sources for comprehensive context of the circumstances surrounding global events. Here is today’s daily roundup of major developments.

Brief Highlights

• West Africa: INTERPOL Border Operation Nets 45 arrests, Seizures Worth Millions
• Ugandan Officials Confirm Case of Ebola in Kampala
• European Council Renews the EU Terrorist List and Related Humanitarian Exceptions

West Africa: INTERPOL Border Operation Nets 45 arrests, Seizures Worth Millions

An INTERPOL-coordinated border security operation in West Africa has resulted in 45 arrests and the seizure of drugs, counterfeit medicines, and stolen vehicles worth millions of dollars. Held from October 21 to November 24, Operation Screen West Africa 2024 brought together law enforcement agencies from 12 West African countries to strengthen border security and disrupt transnational organized crime networks. The operation notably led to the detection of a suspected Islamic State (IS) member at the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso tri-border area and thwarted the plans of a North African suspect planning to transit through Europe to join ISIS in Syria.

Ugandan Officials Confirm Case of Ebola in Kampala

Ugandan officials confirmed the first case of Ebola in two years in the capital Kampala. The victim, who has since passed, was a male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital. Ugandan officials have traced 44 individuals who were in contact with patient zero in order to contain the outbreak.

European Council Renews the EU Terrorist List and Related Humanitarian Exceptions

The European Council has decided to renew the list of persons, groups, and entities subject to restrictive measures with a view to combatting terrorism, delisting one deceased person and maintaining the rest unchanged. There are currently 14 persons and 22 groups, and entities subject to the restrictive measures in force, which consist of the freezing of funds and other financial assets or economic resources in European Union (EU) member states. EU operators are also prohibited from making funds and economic resources available to those listed. The Council also decided to extend the duration of the humanitarian exceptions, introduced in February 2024 for an initial period of one year, until 22 February 2027, in order to ensure continued timely delivery of humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs in line with UN Security Council resolution 2664 (2022).