Prison for five young people arrested for jihadist self-indoctrination

The National Court has sent five young people arrested for jihadist self-indoctrination to prison, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of this court. The suspects formed a group that had access to and exchanged propaganda material produced by production companies of the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) that incites the commission of terrorist attacks. “In the communications, they are interested in the manufacture of explosives and discuss the need to carry out some violent act,” the public prosecutor’s office added in a statement released on Thursday.

The suspects were arrested on Tuesday in an operation by the Civil Guard: five of them in Melilla, two in Madrid and one in Malaga. Two were later released by agents of the armed institute. The Central Court of Instruction number 6 of the National Court has ordered the provisional imprisonment of five and the remaining one has been released on bail with precautionary measures, according to the information provided by the prosecution. In the operation, several entries and searches were carried out under the direction of the investigating court.

A week ago, the Civil Guard also arrested another individual in Malaga, accused of being a recruiter who indoctrinated in jihadist terrorism by disseminating terrorist content created by himself. After he was brought before a judge on 26 June, the National Court ordered his provisional imprisonment.

The investigation was opened pending the analysis of the computer material seized and other inquiries related to the level of contacts that the arrested man had in the terrorist organisation, according to sources familiar with the operation. As of 24 June, the security forces had arrested 38 people for jihadist terrorism in Spain, according to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.

Almost two weeks ago, the dismantling of a large digital propaganda dissemination structure used by ISIS was made public. In the operation, carried out by the Civil Guard and the FBI, nine people were arrested in Algeciras (Cádiz), Antas (Almería) and Salt (Girona) who were involved in “radicalisation processes”, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Spain is on level 4 of the anti-terrorist alert, “high risk” – in force since June 2015 – the second highest of the five existing levels, although the Ministry of the Interior has reinforced security measures at various diplomatic missions in Spain due to the great polarisation that has existed since October due to the war in the Gaza Strip. These include the embassies of Israel, Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, as well as other “strategic, cultural and economic interests” of these countries. Preventive anti-terrorist measures have also been reinforced in the embassies of the 26 EU countries, with special attention to those of France, Sweden and Denmark (the latter two due to the public burning of copies of the Koran in their territory).

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