JIHADIST ARRESTED IN ALTEA
Moroccan citizen 'swore loyality to Daesh'
NATIONAL Police officers on Wednesday arrested a 38-year-old man in Altea on suspicion of belonging to a Jihadi cell.
According to the ministry of the interior, Anuar M was in charge of selecting, indoctrinating and 'radicalising' potential new members of the Islamic State before sending them to Syria and Iraq on combat duties.
He was detained in an early morning raid on his girlfriend's house, located in an apartment block near l'Olla port.
Officers searched the property and left with several sealed boxes of confiscated material.
They then performed another search on Anuar's home on Zubeldia street, close to the town hall.
Finally, National Police officers probed a butcher's shop belonging to a cousin of the suspect - who is not accused of any crime and insists on his relative's innocence.
In addition to a wealth of IT equipment to be analysed by the authorities, the searches also revealed half a kilo of hashish - leading the investigators to suspect that Anuar was involved in drug-trafficking as he had no known regular employment.
Large crowds turned out to watch the police operation that was led by over 30 anti-terrorist, bomb and canine unit experts.
Together with another suspect seized simultaneously in Ceuta, Anuar is believed to be a major activist for Daesh, having pledged his allegiance to the terror organisation and being in 'direct, constant and fluid communication' with its top recruiters and leaders, says the ministry.
Another two alleged Daesh members were arrested in Morocco under the same operation.
Both the alleged Spanish and Moroccan cells are thought to have been coordinated by a Daesh unit in Syria.
They are said to have kept in close contact with each other with frequent trips between both countries.
According to the interior ministry, the suspects detained in Spain posed a severe security risk due to their advanced state of involvement with the Jihadi cause, allegedly being prepared to commit terrorist attacks 'in their country of origin or residence'.