The Spanish Civil Guard announced the arrest of a 18 year old young man suspected of carrying out a “intense propaganda activity“on the internet at”favor of terrorism“and of Islamic State group. In addition, the detainee is also suspected of having links with a international network of jihadists.
The arrest was made on March 16 and the accused appeared before a Spanish court on March 19. The police operation was carried out days before attack in Russiaout by the Civil Guard with the collaboration of the Spanish intelligence agencytheir counterparts swedish and french and the European police agency Europol.
The details of the arrest
The suspect was arrested on March 16 due to suspicions about his Internet activity in favor “of terrorism” and the Islamic State group. The Civil Guard, which had been investigating the young man’s activity, decided to arrest him after Swedish police arrested four people with extremist links who were “allegedly planning an attack.”
Through their online profiles, the suspect “disseminated and translated abundant jihadist content on terrorist activities carried out in different scenarios and countries, as well as suitable material for the manufacture of explosives“, expressed the official statement of the security forces. The investigation has not yet found evidence that the young man maintained contacts with people in Spain.
Regarding his activity on the internet, the detainee had “strict security measures in your communications“through certain tools that allowed him to maintain the online anonymity. The investigators found that the accused also used cryptocurrencies, so they do not rule out that he participated in “terrorist financing activities“.
The hypothesis of the authorities is that the detainee suffered a process of “self-radicalization” on the internet when coming into contact with jihadist propaganda. The accused appeared before a Spanish court on March 19 and remains in custody.
The link with the international network
The young man had been monitored by the authorities since last year. According to the investigation by the Civil Guard, the suspect maintained “important connections“with other people with the same profile”in Asia, Europe and North America“.
The authorities deepened their investigation after realizing that the suspect used “encrypted instant messaging platforms to show their active support for the terrorist organization DAESH“, acronym for Islamic State in Arabic.
The decision to arrest him was finally made after the Säpo security servicefrom Sweden, arrested four people with extremist links that “They were allegedly planning an attack“, with whom the young man had recently been in contact. The arrests were made in the city of Stockholm March 7th.
There, the authorities were able to see the links between the detainees and the Spanish suspect. With them, especially through internet applications, “Manuals of terrorist procedures were exchanged and they also talked about possible objectives or plans for attacks to be carried out in the future.“said police sources.
In addition, the young man was also in contact with an individual in Canada who, similar to the case in Sweden, also “was planning an attack“Upon discovering the fact, the Canadian authorities detained the person more than a year ago, as reported by the Civil Guard.
Source: Ambito
