Monumental pour of cold water on the latest anti-jihadist operation of the Mossos d’Esquadra, with support from the Civil Guard, deployed last Tuesday in Catalonia and Extremadura. Yesterday, the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court requested the immediate provisional release of three of the four detainees, after the investigators did not provide the court with any solid evidence regarding the alleged radicalization that those arrested had suffered, nor had they found a single trace of explosives or plans for a possible attack. “They are criminals, but not terrorists,” sources close to the investigation assure La Vanguardia.
Agents in the fight against terrorism consulted on Tuesday morning were “perplexed” after – in a coordinated manner – the ongoing operation was announced on social networks without all arrests and searches having been carried out. Typically, security forces and bodies do not report, for security reasons, anti-terrorist operations until the detainees are brought to justice. This time it was not like that. “Joint device in operation with the Civil Guard in the field of jihadist terrorism in Rubí, Sant Pere de Ribes, Martorell (Catalonia) and Mérida (Extremadura),” read a message on the X account of both bodies at 6:40 a.m. tomorrow.
Late in the afternoon, both the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Civil Guard announced that a terrorist plot had been “dismantled” with ramifications in various towns. The operation had resulted in four detainees, including the leader of the group, who was in prison, but the operation remained open in anticipation of new arrests. And the fifth person investigated is on the run. In addition, they announced in a tweet – practically copied – that electronic devices and documentation were seized. The message was not the same because the Mossos added that ammunition had been found. A detail omitted by the Civil Guard.
The ringleader of the alleged plot is German Bagaev, a prisoner at Brians 2. He was arrested in 2019 in La Jonquera when he was trying to cross into France with an anti-personnel grenade hidden in the back seat of the Mercedes he was driving. He had a pending expulsion order, but it had not yet been executed because he is awaiting trial again for attempted homicide in Alicante. A criminal with an extensive history in organized crime with experience in the world of arms trafficking.
There are indications, according to police sources, that from Barcelona prison he had allegedly returned to his old ways with contacts to continue buying weapons and explosive material. However, the same sources assure that there is no solid evidence that Bagaev – of Chechen origin – had undergone a process of radicalization towards terrorist postulates. Neither consumption of propaganda, nor captured by a recruiter in prison. Nor has any prayer been heard from him, as detailed by the same sources about Bagaev, who yesterday took advantage of his right not to testify before the judge of the National Court Joaquín Gadea. He was released yesterday, but he must return to Brians 2 to continue serving his previous sentence.
According to tax sources, Tarek San Juan, the one arrested in Sant Pere de Ribes, and Pedro Valero, the one detained in Mérida, also remained silent. Both had a much more discreet profile than Bagaev. The investigator of the case released them, but with the obligation to appear weekly in court, the withdrawal of their passport and the prohibition of leaving the national territory. However, one of them will be placed at the disposal of the corresponding courts after two indictments for common crime have been filed against him.
The fourth detainee, who appears today Friday before the National Court, has a profile similar to the previous ones. The agents found a marijuana plantation in his home in Martorell. And the fifth investigated, who is still on the run, lives in Rubí. There he is an old acquaintance in the police files of common crime: robberies, drugs, fights…
