Gran Canaria terrorist threat: ISIS terrorist are ready to carry out attacks on the holiday island
Police on the holiday island of Gran Canaria have arrested an alleged ISIS terrorist they say was ready to carry out a violent attack.
The 33-year-old illegal Moroccan immigrant was held after what authorities have described as a “significant increase in his level of radicalisation in a short space of time.”
He had been under surveillance since 2012 after being deemed a potential danger.
The suspect is understood to have been detained in the island capital Las Palmas although there was no immediate confirmation from the authorities of the exact location today/yesterday (TUE).
A spokesman for Spain’s Ministry of Interior said in a statement, in which they referred to ISIS by its acronym DAESH: “Police have arrested in Gran Canaria a Moroccan man who was intent on carrying out ‘violent jihad.’
“He constituted a potential threat to national security, having expressed his clear intention to carry out a sizeable terrorist act.”
The suspect, who has not been named, is said to have published material showing his support for ISIS on the Internet.
The statement added: “He shared violent videos glorifying martyrdom, openly approved the commission of terrorist acts and even posed next to his wife and young child in clothes with the organisation’s emblems whilst carrying knives.
“All of this activity was carried out using different techniques to conceal his true identify on the Internet so he could try to avoid police detection and control.”
Today’s/yesterday’s (TUE) arrest brought the total number of detentions of suspected jihadists in Spain since the start of 2015, when it raised its anti-terror alert level to four on a scale of five, to 188.
It came just hours a day after it emerged Islamic State fanatics had issued a “direct threat” to popular Spanish tourist resorts where millions of Britons will holiday this summer.
Government documents have pointed to the terror group publishing in Spanish in an attempt to increase its influence on radicals living in Spain.
The number of British tourists visiting Spain soared from a low of 12.5 million in 2010 to a record high of 17.8 million in 2016.
Many tourists have chosen Spain this year as a safer option to places like Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia.
Source: /Express
