National Police take out Jihadi cell in Ceuta preparing to carry out attacks in Spain

Headed up and coordinated by the Public Prosecutor of the National High Court and the judge of Central Instruction Court number five, the operation, known as "Jackal", finalised in the search of two properties where the police discovered an automatic Parabellum 9 mm pistol, combat uniforms, ski masks, Spanish car registration plates, large machetes, other types of knives and non-firearm small weapons, various types of ammunition, IT material and different forms of documentation that is due to be studied.

The four detainees, that formed part of the cell, were acting on instructions from the leader of the Jihadi terrorist group DAESH, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, through a powerful and aggressive communication and media campaign through Jihadi forums and web sites on the Internet. These instructions are currently focused on both the need to recruit and send new combatants to the region of conflict (Syria-Iraq) and the suitability of committing terrorist acts with extensive media repercussions in any Western country, specifically Europe, in support of the terrorist group DAESH.

Very clear examples of the current situation of a serious threat of attack facing Europe as a whole - including Spain - are the terrorist attacks which were committed in Paris, in a coordinated fashion, on 7 and 8 January.

In light of these events, the operation carried out in the early hours of Saturday in Ceuta sought to remove a potential threat to Spain from the members of the dismantled cell, taking into account the current situation of risk and the similarities detected during the course of the investigation between the members of the Spanish cell and the authors of the attacks in France.

Specifically there are a series of elements that clearly show the level of danger from these detainees, as well as the fact that they have a very similar profile to the French terrorists.

Similarities:

• The four detainees, two pairs of brothers, were highly radicalised, to the extent that they had even taken their own deaths for granted during the commission of a terrorist attack.
• All four were physically and mentally trained to carry out the "Jihad". They had also adopted many complicated security measures in their deployments and communications.
• They had been able to purchase firearms on the black market and had trained with these weapons. They were also determined to use them in a potential terrorist attack.