Four Islamic State members arrested in joint Spanish-Moroccan operation

Spanish police working in collaboration with Morocco’s security forces have arrested four Moroccans, two in Spain and two in the North African country, who were allegedly members of radical cells working in conjunction with each other under the coordination of the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS.

The Spanish Interior Ministry says the operation “has neutralized a potential threat to the national security of Spain and Morocco,” adding that the four men “had sworn loyalty to the Islamic State” and were in “constant and direct contact" with the radical jihadist militant group.

This is the second such operation in as many days against jihadist terrorism in Spain

An Interior Ministry press note released on Wednesday morning described the four men as “highly radicalized” and committed to ISIS.

Among their main activities were recruitment and radicalization of jihadists, which they carried out under direct instructions from ISIS, which also supplied them with logistical support and propaganda for the katiba group, a hardline Sunni militia that includes hundreds of foreign fighters, among them Europeans, operating in Iraq and Syria, said the Interior Ministry.

“The Moroccan cell was tasked with maintaining orthodoxy and indoctrinated members in order to protect the structure from any external contingency,” said the Spanish Interior Ministry, adding: “At the same time, the cell operating from Spain focused on recruitment and indoctrination of new members, who would be sent to the conflict in Iraq and Syria.”

The arrested men were ready to “head to the conflict zone to become martyrs or to carry out terrorist attacks wherever they were based,” said the press release.

The operation is still ongoing, the ministry added.

The four men were described as “highly radicalized”

This is the second such operation in as many days against Jihadist terrorism in Spain: on Tuesday, two men were detained in the north of the country suspected of recruiting and indoctrinating new members for the jihadist group and who had encouraged new members to carry out terrorist acts in the name of ISIS.

The raids carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday in Spain and Morocco come after terrorist attacks in Europe that have demonstrated the danger posed to national security by undercover jihadist cells. Spanish security forces have arrested 150 Islamic radicals since the country’s terrorism threat level was raised to four in 2015. Of those arrests, 120 have taken place within Spain, while 30 took place in other countries with the cooperation of Spanish security personnel.

Tuesday’s raids also come a month after Spanish counter-terrorism authorities issued an alert about “the increase in mentions of our country” in recent propaganda material produced by ISIS, including text documents, videos and graphs.

English version by Nick Lyne.