Three alleged jihadists cataloged as « threat to national security » | Spain
The Civil Guard has arrested three alleged members of a jihadist group who had been listed as « a potential threat to national security » after the investigation revealed that they had made the oath of fidelity to the Islamic State (ISIS in its acronym in English), which had made internet searches on weapons, explosives and suicidal attack, and that they had in their possession « large white weapons » Friday the Ministry of Interior. It is in particular of me, arrested in Fuencaliente de Lucio (Burgos); Aa, captured in Huelva; and AE, which resided in Salamanca, all of them of Moroccan nationality. Two of them have entered prison, while the third has been released with precautionary measures after testifying before the judge of the National Court Francisco de Jorge. With them, There are already 38 those arrested by security forces so far this year accused of different Crimes related to jihadismaccording to statistics from the Ministry of Interior.
The baptized as Operation Pozo Amarillo has revealed that the three arrested had coincided in the past in the city of Salamanca, where they constituted a group “aligned with the thesis of the global jihadist movement” that uses multiple sources to obtain material “for self -addiction and autocapacitation”, as stressed by the Civil Guard. Thus, the group consulted content prepared by Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, but also of terrorist organizations of Palestinian origin or Sheiks (spiritual directors) jihadists. Along with this, they performed physical training and sometimes they wore clothing similar to that used by the Islamist terrorists, As balaclavas to cover the face or combat vest, to obtain images with which to prepare « audiovisual compositions that subsequently distributed to third parties. »
The alarms shot when the investigations revealed that the oaths of fidelity had made the jihadist organizations and that they performed online searches on weapons, explosives and suicidal attacks. In addition, they were in possession of large white weapons. For all, those responsible for the investigation cataloged them as potentially dangerous and decided to stop them. The arrests finally occurred on March 18, although until Friday it had not transcended. At this time, the agents, in collaboration with the Agency of the European Union for Police Cooperation (Europol) have analyzed the electronic devices intervened in search of possible connections of those arrested “internationally”.
Police activity in the fight against Islamist terrorism records record figures, With 38 detainees. If this rhythm follow, the year can end more than a hundred arrests, figures not registered since 2004, when the 11-M attacks were committed and 131 alleged jihadists were arrested. This upward trend in the number of antiyihadist operations began in October 2023, when the outbreak of the war in Gaza after the terrorist attacks of Hamas and Israel’s military response forced interior to accelerate many of the investigations that had open on suspects of radical Islamist activities in fear that the conflict pushes them to attack, according to police sources. In the year and a half passed since the conflict broke out, the security forces have arrested 173 alleged Islamist terrorist.
