The jihadist detained in Palma financed the Islamic State in Somalia
The researchers attribute to him the planning of an attack in Spain and the channeling of funds to Morocco to distribute them among the wives of Moroccan fighters in Somalia.
PalmThe alleged terrorist arrested in Palma on March 25, leader of a cell with two more members arrested in Tangier, was involved in the financing and logistical support of Islamic State (IS) fighters in Somalia and was preparing an attack on Spanish territory.
According to data provided to EFE by the Moroccan Central Office for Judicial Investigations (BCIJ, judicial arm of internal intelligence), the ringleader is considered the "most dangerous" element of the group.
Investigators attribute to him the planning of an attack in Spain and channeling the sending of funds to Morocco to distribute among the wives of Moroccan fighters in Somalia.
Like the group's leader, the two arrested in Tangier are Moroccan. One became radicalized with IS propaganda and became a financial link between the network's chief and families of fighters in Somalia.
The other embraced the ideology of the Al-Nusra Front (former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria) and later that of IS, influenced by a fellow combatant.
According to the Moroccan BCIJ, collaboration with Spain's General Information Office (CGI) has led to the dismantling of more than 30 joint cells since 2015, the year this Moroccan counter-terrorism body was created.
Madrid and Rabat systematically share information on "lone wolves", terrorist cells, and foreign fighters, facilitating operational collaboration that has led to the dismantling, since 2015, of more than thirty terrorist cells, with 153 detainees: 84 in Spain and 69 in Morocco.
The Tangier and Mallorca operation
The Tangier and Mallorca operation confirms that Spanish-Moroccan cooperation remains at the forefront of international efforts against terrorism, according to security officials in Morocco, with an approach that combines intelligence exchange, simultaneous police action, judicial coordination, and monitoring of financial flows.
Likewise, they emphasize that collaboration with Spain has moved beyond the framework of ad-hoc coordination to become "a permanent partnership based on mutual trust" and the preventive exchange of information and best practices.
The speed in exchanging alerts and opening joint investigations upon any indication of incipient cells is, according to the BCIJ, one of the distinctive features of this bilateral mechanism.