Two Moroccan Terror Suspects Nabbed in Spain

Spanish security services announced on Monday the arrest of two Moroccan nationals having links to the terror ISIS organization.

According to a press release issued by the Spanish Interior Ministry, the two men, residing in the southern Spanish city of Murcia and the northern city of Valladolid, were planning to carry out an attack in Europe.

One of the suspects had traveled to Turkey to meet an ISIS member near the Syrian border, where he had received training and instructions to return to Europe to carry out an attack.

Turkish police arrested the suspect and handed him to Spanish authorities. After his release, he carried on his terror project.

Last week, Moroccan police arrested four jihadists with suspected links to ISIS, including one held in the northern city of Meknes who was “planning terrorist attacks in Morocco.”

They also captured a week earlier three other dangerous extremists in the Moroccan port city of Tangiers. According to investigators, the three-member cell was planning a series of attacks meant to disrupt Morocco’s peace and stability.

The three jihadists were also planning to create an ISIS province (Wilayat) in Morocco, said Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), the judicial part of the Moroccan domestic intelligence service.

According to BCIJ chief Abdelhalk Khiame, Morocco’s counterterrorism strategy is based a multidimensional policy which includes anticipation, education, prevention, the respect of freedom of expression, and other socioeconomic aspects.

This comprehensive strategy also includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter-radicalization policies.

The North African country has placed counterterrorism at the top of its priorities following the Casablanca terror attacks in 2003 and the subsequent attacks of 2007 and 2011.