The neo-Nazi group Combat 18 had as its priority "attacks on mosques and Jewish interests"

The neo-Nazi group Combat 18, of which its 16 members were arrested this week, had as its priority “attacks on mosques, Jewish interests and premises with ideological backgrounds that are interpreted as antagonistic, fundamentally left-wing anti-fascist.”

This was explained by the deputy chief of the Mossos d’Esquadra Information Police Station, David Sánchez, at a press conference this Thursday after the Catalan police and the National Police arrested the 16 suspects in Catalonia, Madrid, Lugo, Toledo on Tuesday. and Málaga, who have been provisionally released after being brought to justice.

Sánchez has indicated that these were his priorities, although the organization did not have “a specific plan against a specific objective” and was looking for means to attack.

Among its intermediate objectives was to attract new members through propaganda on social networks, an activity that, according to Sánchez, “had multiplied recently” after almost two years of police monitoring.

Sánchez has also explained that, for the Mossos, now the main threats to security in Catalonia are the violent extreme right and jihadism and, asked if they therefore lower the risk they attribute to anarchism, he answered that “for a temporary matter, yes.” , and has distinguished between the intentions and the capacity that a group may have.

Regarding right-wing extremism, he explained that it has “constant and consistent activity in generating stories, capturing people and with clear intentions to commit attacks.”

He has pointed out that this operation, which the Mossos have called Dracarys, does not imply that the threat posed by this extremism has increased, but rather that “it remains sustained but in any case it is high.”

Sánchez has specified that those arrested this week (13 men and 3 women) are between 29 and 49 years old, “a profile of people who have completed a radicalization process years ago, not that they were starting it now,” and the majority have already They have a history of hate crimes or crimes related to their ideology.

In the joint device launched by the Mossos and the National Police, a total of 14 home searches were carried out in which “about 50 bladed weapons, 10 simulated weapons, numerous publications related to their ideology and a manual on explosives” were seized.

Likewise, David Sánchez has said that a common characteristic of white supremacism is individual actions, a tactic called “leaderless resistance” in which there is no structured organization throughout the world.

On the other hand, a differential feature in the group dismantled this week is that they did have a hierarchical structure (with differentiated positions such as president, treasurer and, with less involvement, sympathizers) and the police have detected “multiple coordination meetings” between the suspects. who were in Catalonia, while the rest maintained virtual contact.

In this sense, Sánchez has pointed out that the capacity of an organization is greater than that of an individual person, who represents a greater potential risk, and has highlighted that having investigated them from a very initial phase allows the police to work when there is still no high risk for citizens and intervene quickly if it arises although this probably has “limitations at a procedural and criminal level.”

The suspects are being investigated as an alleged criminal organization and Sánchez has indicated that this already represents a serious crime because the reason for their existence was to commit crimes against people, and they are also attributed with the alleged crimes of illegal possession of weapons and against fundamental rights.