Hamas' attack in various parts of Israeli territory on October 7 not only triggered the invasion and massacre in Gaza that continues to this day, but also raised the status of a jihadist threat across Europe. Spain increased its alert level to 4 (from a maximum of 5) and since then there have been police operations and arrests of suspected Islamist radicals. In the last two months alone, there have been 54 arrests of suspected jihadists, according to Interior Ministry statistics accessed by EL PAÍS. That is more than in the whole of last year, when 46 people were arrested. A total of 77 people have been arrested so far this year for alleged links to jihadism. According to anti-terrorism sources, 82% were operations by the National Police and the remaining 18% were operations by other state security forces. These figures are among the highest in recent years, surpassed only by those from 2004, when the 11M attacks were carried out and 131 suspected jihadists were arrested; and that of 2005, when there were 92 arrests.
Experts in the fight against terrorism do not hide the fact that although these were ongoing investigations, the fundamental factor in this new wave of arrests was the tension caused by the war in Gaza, which has exacerbated the usual preventive work of the security services. Security and intervene at the slightest intention to act. The same sources assure that international cooperation is another element that has contributed to improving these statistics, as information between countries “flows more quickly and effectively and in a more coordinated way,” they warn.
“The conflict between Israel and Palestine will be an accelerator for phenomena that have been occurring in Europe for a long time, such as radicalization processes that can lead to the commission of terrorist attacks by individual actors, or the polarization of extremism that can also lead to violent incidents,” says the director of the International Observatory for Terrorism Studies, Carlos Igualada.
Since the brutal 11-M attacks, the police response to jihadism has evolved alongside successive changes in anti-jihadist laws. We have moved from breaking up multi-member cells to arresting lone offenders and neutralizing the potential threat that can come from indoctrinators and spreaders of jihadist propaganda (even from prisons), as well as those who engage in radical readings of jihadist propaganda itself indoctrinate Islam or those who have returned from conflict areas. According to police, 263 residents of Spain – 64% of Moroccan origin, 15% Spanish and the rest of other nationalities – traveled mainly to Syria and Iraq. Of them, 102 died in combat, 63 returned, including 49 to Spain – nine are in prison – and 40 were released. The remaining 98 combatants who left our country remain missing.
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The successive operations in recent months confirm growing concerns about jihadist statements and actions. The National Police's Operation Miya, carried out in two phases and involving 12 countries, showed last week how international support, logistics and economic networks are already being formed through encrypted social networks to support specific individuals. : Suspected jihadists frustrated Since they had no access to conflict areas, they now decide to take action on European soil. There were 13 arrests, five of them on Spanish soil.
The presence of minors among the youngest detainees this week also represents a milestone in this period. In September, Verónica Antonieta R., a 39-year-old woman living in Vitoria, was arrested and accused of kidnapping her four children, all under 12 years of encouraging people to “become terrorists, ready to kill, die and self-immolate.” “, as the regional court emphasized in a resolution. In addition, in November two young people were arrested in Palma de Mallorca and Plasencia (Cáceres) for spreading radical Islamist proclamations on video game channels frequented by young people. Last Monday, three more minors (two in the province of Madrid and another in Barcelona) were seized producing triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a powerful homemade explosive known as “Mother of Satan.” Only one minor was arrested in 2022.
In November, 14 Pakistanis were arrested and accused of being part of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) structure in Spain, a radical Islamist party with parliamentary representation in the Asian country that advocates the implementation of Islamic law and execution everyone uses it he considers it blasphemous. They were all recently deported from Spain without awaiting trial.
Among other actions in the fight against terrorism carried out this year, the arrest of Yassine Kanjaa, the 25-year-old Moroccan citizen who murdered the sexton Diego Valencia with machetes and four other people in a shooting on January 25, also stands out Attack on two central churches in Algeciras (Cádiz), the last jihadist attack in Spain. This month, Yolanda Martínez and Luna Fernández, the two wives of jihadists repatriated from Syria with their children by the Spanish government, were also arrested upon their arrival in Spain.
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