The Spanish Civil Guard has announced the dismantling of a terrorist cell and the arrest of nine individuals in various cities across the country for their alleged involvement in crimes related to indoctrination, dissemination of terrorist propaganda, and incitement to commit violent acts.
« This operation, jointly conducted by the Civil Guard’s Information Service and the Moroccan Directorate General of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), led to the identification and neutralization of a group of young people who had undergone a radicalization process following the most violent tenets of the terrorist organization Daesh, » the Civil Guard stated in a press release on Friday.
The statement specifies that eight people were arrested on Tuesday during raids in the enclave of Melilla, Madrid, and Malaga, while another operation conducted on Monday in Cornellá (Barcelona) resulted in the arrest of another suspected terrorist specialized in the creation and dissemination of terrorist content.
« It is important to highlight the cooperation of the Moroccan Directorate General of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), whose constant and skilled support has enabled the progress of the investigations. This underscores the importance of international cooperation between counter-terrorism services to address this threat and the significant challenge of anticipating terrorist actions, » the Spanish Civil Guard emphasizes.
« Throughout the investigation, evidence was obtained about the organization and formation of a group that evolved over time, both online and offline, and whose members adopted the most extreme and violent postulates of jihadist terrorist organizations, » the statement added, noting that a significant portion of the detected propaganda material belongs to terrorist organizations such as Daesh.
The detainees were presented to the courts on Thursday, July 4, and five of them have been placed in provisional detention.