The Civil Guard has arrested in Barcelona an alleged jihadist, born in 2005, who was in full contact with the cell dismantled at the beginning of March in Sweden that was preparing a terrorist attack in the Scandinavian country. The young man, with Spanish nationality but of Moroccan origin, used encrypted instant messaging platforms to spread “suitable” material for the manufacture of explosives.
As police sources explain to La Vanguardia, investigators are trying to find out how a boy who is not yet 20 years old has been able to establish contact – always virtual – at the highest level with leaders of international cells such as those in Sweden or Canada. “It is something that is not available to everyone,” say the same sources. All of this from his family home in Barcelona, ??in the Nou Barris district, where he lived with his parents and his four younger siblings, completely oblivious to what the detainee was up to over the Internet.
The investigation began at the beginning of 2023. The arrest took place on March 17. Just over a year in which the agents of the Information Service of the Civil Guard have been able to prove that the activities carried out by the arrested person in their profiles “were planned in a coherent and coordinated manner” with the ultimate intention of gaining followers who would show his “real and effective” support for the Islamic State. The intention was, clearly, to achieve maximum dissemination of its publications, made thanks to the translation of abundant jihadist content on terrorist activities carried out in different scenarios.
Throughout the investigation, agents saw how some of the extremists arrested in Sweden on charges of preparing terrorist crimes and other serious weapons-related crimes visited Spain and Morocco. And that is where the investigations between Spain and Sweden intersected. Although those arrested in the Scandinavian country did not have physical contact with the detainee now in Barcelona, ??they were establishing communications to provide training and terrorist recruitment during their stay in Spain.
The alleged jihadist, who was doing an internship in a mechanical workshop in Barcelona, ??maintained strict security measures in his communications with the use of tools that allowed him to have anonymity on the Internet and operate clandestinely. In addition, during the search, investigators found his use of cryptocurrencies, something that had not been previously detected. In this way, his connection with terrorist financing activities is not ruled out.
The operation has been developed thanks to collaboration and cooperation both nationally and internationally. In Spain there has been active collaboration with the National Intelligence Center, while abroad we have worked jointly with the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO), the French Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI) and the European Union Agency for Police Cooperation, EUROPOL. The detainee was brought to judicial custody this Tuesday, March 19, with the measure of entry into provisional prison having been decreed.
