The National Police transfer a detainee for jihadism, in an archive image from 2021. NATIONAL POLICE (Europa Press)
The National Police has led an international anti-jihadist operation that has resulted in 13 arrests. Six of the suspects were arrested in Spain: five of them this week in the second phase of a complex operation in the provinces of Valencia (where two people were arrested), Cáceres, Alicante and Gipuzkoa. Those arrested are accused of belonging to and collaborating with the terrorist organization Daesh. Four of them were detained by court order this Friday. This is the second part of the so-called Operation Miya, which was developed over two and a half years. It was launched in 2021 by agents of the National Police's General Information Commissariat (CGI) and was collaborated by intelligence and security services from 12 countries.
In the first phase and after a year and a half of investigations, the Spanish police discovered that a person of Maghreb origin living in Spain had been in contact with a jihadist who had entered Europe via the so-called Balkan route. This radical's goal was to reach France to carry out an attack on behalf of Daesh, and the person under investigation in Spain offered his cooperation. Investigators tracked down the man in Switzerland who planned the attack in France and immediately passed the information on to their colleagues in the Swiss police. Given the risk involved in planning this attack, a joint operation was organized in Switzerland and Spain, which led to the simultaneous arrest of both radicals in March 2022. Subsequently, and in this first phase of the operation, six further arrests were made in Europe and the Maghreb, bringing the total number of detainees to eight. The prisoner in our country was sentenced to two years in prison for terrorist crimes and was released in mid-2023.
After this first part, CGI analysts determined that the two detainees were part of an international network supporting Daesh, established on three continents. This began a joint macro-operation with the security and intelligence services of 12 countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Maghreb. In it, the agents seized more than 200,000 euros in cryptocurrencies and uncovered a jihadist network supporting Daesh with branches in Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Sahel, the Maghreb and Europe. Its members were allegedly intent on obtaining funds from committing crimes in Europe to finance their terrorist activities. They transported large amounts of money via international shipments and cryptocurrencies and recorded the seizure of cryptocurrencies worth almost 200,000 euros.
Some members of the network tried to indoctrinate new followers of the jihadist faith and support them if they showed a desire to carry out terrorist attacks, according to a press release from the Ministry of Interior, which asserts that this network helped in the Planning at least two attacks that were ultimately neutralized by the intervention of the security services.
The investigation in Spain has now been concluded with the arrest of five people. One of the people under investigation in our country had suffered severe radicalization in recent months and had shown a desire to carry out an attack in recent weeks. This circumstance triggered a police operation. When his apartment was searched, handgun ammunition and an ax were found. Several manuals on the production of explosives, manuals on the indoctrination of minors and jihadist propaganda were also confiscated from the other detainees.
This operation meant dismantling some of Daesh's infrastructure and support channels in Europe, the Middle East and the Maghreb, as well as supporting new followers in their jihadist desires. At the same time, it has shown the importance of cooperation between the police of the various countries involved, including the Moroccan Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST), the Algerian Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure (DGSI) and the Direction Générale of the Mauritanian Sûreté Nationale (DGSN), the North American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Swiss FEDPOL and EUROPOL. In our country, the CGI was able to rely on the collaboration of its Provincial Information Brigades of Valencia, Alicante, Cáceres and San Sebastián, as well as the National Intelligence Center (CNI). The investigation was coordinated by the Central Court of Instruction Number 6 and the National Court Prosecutor's Office.
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don't miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
The General Information Commissariat has conducted 22 operations so far this year, arresting 54 suspected jihadists, 36 of them in nine operations carried out in the last two months.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_