The ‘Spanish Taliban’ was a key member of the Ceuta jihadist network

It was not just another cell. The members of the group met in both Ceuta and Morocco and planned to carry out an attack before joining the ranks of the Islamic State of the Sahel to carry out jihad. Not only that; The profile of its most prominent members was very disturbing. Among them, as ABC has learned, was the one known as the ‘Spanish Taliban’, who received military training in Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and was detained in Pakistan by US military forces who deported him to the Guantanamo base in Cuba.

Also part of the group was an individual with a record of homicide, another for attacking authority… His full adherence to the Daesh postulates It was evident, since they consumed their propaganda and also had their manuals to carry out attacks or manufacture explosives.

The investigation had begun more than a year and a half ago. Most of the members of the group had been under the control for quite some time. focus of experts on jihadist terrorism —one had been convicted and others arrested and acquitted in other operations against this type of terrorism—, so as soon as they began to make suspicious movements all the alarms went off. They maintained physical contact between them, especially in Ceuta, Fnideq (which is the current name of the ancient Castillejos) and Tetouan, taking advantage of the facilities to cross the border with Morocco, and also virtual.

Against an infidel

Little by little the members of the group went from feedback on their radicalism to making the decision to carry out an attack. It is not clear that preparations had begun to commit it, but it is clear that their first option was to attack someone from their closest community who was considered unfaithful. During the searches, knives were seized—another worrying fact—, cartridges, and their mobile phones contained Daesh, propaganda, and other material, which is now being analyzed.

The profile of those involved; the increasingly insistent conversations that they had to act quickly; The regular meetings they held and the determination to join the ranks of Daesh in the Sahel led the investigators to make the decision not to wait any longer, because at any moment they could activate themselves to commit an atrocity. Killing is easy, and these types of terrorists do not need neither much preparation nor many means to commit brutal attacks. There was no risk to be taken.

The operation it was planned to the millimeter and in coordination with the Moroccan security forces, with whom there has been, once again, extraordinarily effective collaboration. At five in the morning last Friday dozens of police officers from the Special Operations Group (GEO) took positions in the neighborhoods of El Príncipe Alfonso and Vicedo Martín de Ceuta and began the arrests. At the same time, similar scenes took place in Madrid and Ibiza, but also in Tetouan and Fnideq.

There was not the slightest margin for any resistance from the suspects, who have between 30 and 50 years old. That is to say; These are brash guys, not young people susceptible to being manipulated or wanting to live an adventure.

One of the things that caught the attention of the investigators is that the detainees kept just over 15,000 euros in cash in their homes, an amount of money notably higher than that usually found in operations of this nature. It is not clear, moreover, Where does that money come from? one of the lines of research that is now being followed. Of course, it is difficult for them to have a legal origin, since only two of the six arrested in Spain worked, in construction and in the service sector. The rest benefited from the host family network, which provided them with enough income to survive.

The researchers insist that there is no clear leader in the cell, although it is evident that the history of the ‘Spanish Taliban’ had its specific weight. It is also true that some were more radical in their approaches than the rest, and in this type of groups they are the ones who usually drag the rest along. Some have relatives who had once moved to jihad territories to fight in the ranks of Daesh.

Its main base of operations was Ceuta and Morocco, and in fact the detainee in Madrid, who had entered our country illegally, He was in the capital of Spain circumstantially. For his part, the one from Ibiza was also of Ceuta origin but had settled on that Balearic island.

Therefore, four of those arrested in our country they have Spanish nationality; one, as has been said, is in an illegal situation and the other is a foreigner but has the papers in order. As for those arrested in Morocco, at least one of them lived in Ceuta but moved to Morocco constantly.

The most dangerous

Although the sources consulted do not want to cause unnecessary concern and alarm, it is evident that this cell is the most dangerous of the disjointed in a long time. It is true that there is the case of the minor from Seville, who had even tested explosives to carry out attacks, but he was acting alone; These people, acting in groups, are potentially more lethal.

Regarding his desire to join the Islamic State of the Sahel after an attack, it must be remembered that this area – which includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger and Benin – has become, over the last few years, in the main scene of the activity of jihadist groups and a focus of attraction for combatants from other areas of the world. In fact, there are several joint operations by the Spanish and Moroccan Police against networks that facilitated the transfer of jihadists for incorporation into the Islamic State in this region.

At this moment Daesh of the Sahel does not have the same strength that the Islamic State had at the time in Syria, when it achieved create a caliphatebut its danger is clearly increasing, according to all experts.

So far this year, the Security Forces have carried out 37 operations against jihadist terrorism in which 66 individuals. Therefore, police pressure remains high in Spain, which is consistent with the level 4 out of five of terrorist alert in our country.