Counterterror: Morocco’s Police Captures another ISIS Operative

Moroccan security services have announced the arrest Saturday of an engineering student with ties to the jihadist terror group, ISIS. The arrest was made in the city of Mohammedia (near Casablanca) by Morocco’s FBI, Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ).

According to Moroccan authorities, the captured ISIS member was planning a terrorist plot to undermine the stability of the country by using an explosive belt.

The investigators seized in his lodging computers, two hard disks, several CDs, two mobile phones, diving equipment, a wooden stick, electrical cables, a voltmeter, and an adhesive tape.

In September, BCIJ arrested 12 jihadists operating in Casablanca and Tangier. Since its creation in 2015, the BCIJ has arrested hundreds of suspected terrorists and dismantled nearly 60 terrorist cells.

Morocco has a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter-radicalization policies.

Thanks to this strategy, there have been no terrorist attacks on Moroccan soil since 2011. The authorities have placed counterterrorism at the top of priorities following the Casablanca terror attacks in 2003 and the two subsequent attacks of 2007 and 2011.

Morocco’s counterterrorism efforts mitigated the risk of terrorism, but the country continues to face threats, largely from numerous small, independent violent extremist cells.