Fight against terrorism

National Police arrest alleged terrorist in Valencia accused of indoctrination and collaboration with DAESH

News - 2017.3.22

Officers from the General Commissariat of Intelligence of the National Police arrested an alleged terrorist in Benetússer (Valencia) on Wednesday accused of being an active member of the so-called "Jihad of the written word". His preaching activities had converted him into a real threat to public security due to his use of the social media to carry out an effective terrorist indoctrination campaign, founded on the spread of violent content, initially in favour of Al Qaeda and more recently in favour of the terrorist group DAESH.

Through the use of different virtual profiles, under names associated with the Jihadist epics, the detainee, a 45-year old male of Moroccan origin and a nationalised Spaniard, published numerous messages on training in combat tactics, the glorification of Jihadist attacks committed by DAESH in Europe, Syria and other countries, and particularly emphasised basic radical concepts to his followers, the precursor to any terrorist activity: "Jihad is an inescapable duty", and "the imposition of Sharia law, the fight and action against the enemy".

The detainee was found to be highly integrated in the Muslim community in his town of residence, despite carrying out terrorist indoctrination and recruitment tasks over the Internet, preserving, to some extent, his anonymity and aware of the tremendous scope of this medium, of its effective capacity and real-time operation.

During the course of the police investigation into the terrorist activity of the detainee, officers observed the appearance of each and every one of the typical phases of the process of terrorist radicalisation: the glorification of victimhood through the spread of content on supposed suffering of the Muslim population; the personalisation of guilt, targeting images of hatred of Western society; the search for a solution through the genuine faith, urging his followers to strictly comply with religious dictates, and lastly activism, encouraging them to undertake terrorist attacks and praising those carried out by DAESH as an example to follow.

The operation, which remains ongoing, was carried out under the supervision of Central Investigation Court Number 1 in coordination with the Public Prosecutor's Office of the National High Court.

Since 2015, the year in which the Ministry of Home Affairs raised the Counter-Terrorism Alert Level to level 4 (Spanish acronym: NAA-4), the law enforcement agencies have arrested a total of 195 Jihadist terrorists.

The Ministry of Home Affairs sends out a reminder that, through the initiative STOP RADICALISMOS, citizens can collaborate through a series of channels open to them so that, in a confidential and secure manner, they can notify the State law enforcement agencies of possible cases of radicalisation in their vicinity through the web page www.stop-radicalismos.es, the mobile phone app for citizens security alerts Alertcops and the free hotline 900 822 066.