Spanish national police arrest four suspected jihadists in country's North African territory of Ceuta who were 'ready to carry out attack'
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Version 0 of 1. Four suspected terrorists who had allegedly formed a terror cell and were poised to carry out an attack were arrested by Spanish national police in the country’s North African enclave of Ceuta on Saturday. Spain’s interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said investigators, working with their Moroccan counterparts, were struck by the similarities between the four suspected cell members and the Kouachi brothers who killed 12 people when they carried out their deadly attack on the Parisian satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices. Spanish policemen escorting one of the four alleged jihadists Fernandez Diaz said the suspects were two pairs of “very radicalised brothers” who were highly trained “militarily, physically and mentally” and who were according to police not only prepared and ready to "carry out an attack" but “to blow themselves up in the process”.
The men, all Spanish citizens of Moroccan origin, were arrested after two houses were searched on Saturday morning. Officers found an automatic pistol, ammunition, military fatigues, face-concealing hoods, Spanish vehicle license plates, large machetes, knives and documents, Reuters News Agency reported. The ministry said that investigators are still assessing the suspected cell’s infrastructure and its ability to carry out terror attacks in the country. The four men had been following instructions by Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ministry said, through what officials termed a “powerful and aggressive communication campaign,” which included jihadi internet forums and websites. Spain and Morocco have arrested dozens of suspected jihadist militants and recruiters in recent years, especially around Melilla and Ceuta, Spanish coastal cities in North Africa that are surrounded by Morocco, while some 50 suspected jihadists have been arrested by Spanish police over the past year, according to the ministry. In June 2013 police arrested eight people in Ceuta on suspicion of acting as recruiters for jihadist groups fighting in Syria, as part of a network links to al-Qaeda. The ring of people was thought to have provided funds and the travel means for would-be fighters to travel to training camps, mainly in Syria. Additional reporting by Reuters |