Abdeladim Achriaa was detained on Tuesday in a small town near Madrid as part of a joint Moroccan-Spanish police operation against alleged Islamic State sympathisers.
Advertisement
The arrests were made in suburbs of Madrid and in various Moroccan cities.
The aim was for them to eventually join Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, he said, noting that Achriaa had several Facebook profiles, one of which gave his name as “salami Jihadi”.
Achriaa was denied bail yesterday at Spain’s High Court, after Judge Juan Pablo Gonzalez claimed he posed a flight risk and ordered him to be held on terrorism charges pending further investigation.
Spain has taken dozens of suspected militants into custody in recent years, including in March when authorities arrested eight people they said were operating as a propaganda arm for the Islamic State group within Spain.
Morocco and Spain said the network aimed to recruit IS fighters to go to Iraq and Syria, and also to carry out IS-type actions in Morocco and Spain. Ultimately, the members of the group intended to emigrate to join Islamic State themselves, the document said.
“The suspects were part of a group whose main activity consisted in recruiting and sending fighters to the Daech-controlled regions in Syria and Iraq”, said the Spanish Interior Ministry.
He said Achriaa had travelled to Morocco many times, via Melilla, most recently entering Melilla from Morocco on June 17. Thirteen others were also arrested in several Moroccan cities, including Fez, Casablanca, Nador, Al Hoceima and Driouch.
The 26-year-old gunman, who had also lived for years in Spain, is accused of bursting onto a crowded carriage on the train on August 21, waving a Kalashnikov.
“The Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) dismantled Tuesday, in coordination with the Spanish security services, a terrorist network consisting of 14 members”, said the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior in a statement.
Advertisement
Spain is now on “high alert” for a terrorist attack.
