Suspected Islamic State terrorist arrested in Spain after returning from Iraq and Syria

An alleged ISIS fighter who recently returned from the conflict zone in Syria and Iraq was arrested by Spanish police.

The suspect is believed to be a long-time active ISIS member who spent considerable time in Iraq and Syria, police said on Wednesday.

The suspect was arrested with two others in Barcelona. Video released by Europol and the Spanish National Police shows two suspects being taken into police cars.

The alleged ISIS fighter is believed to have returned to Spain via Turkey and Senegal where the suspect “continued his terrorist activity”, police said.

Before entering Spain, he also travelled to Algeria where there is an ISIS splinter group.

Police said the man, whose identity has not been made public, is potentially dangerous.

Spanish police found the accused ISIS member hiding in a run-down property in Barcelona, where officers discovered he was not living alone.

Hundreds of people are believed to have left Europe to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and many are now in detention camps waiting to be handed over to their countries of origin.

In the UK, Shamima Begum is the most high-profile example after she was found in a camp in Syria.

She travelled to Syria as a teenager to join ISIS when it was a rising force, married an ISIS fighter and lived in the city of Raqqa.

The UK government stripped her of her citizenship, a decision she is trying to have overturned.

On December 24, a plane from Syria carrying 25 Bosnian citizens – former ISIS fighters, women and children – landed in Sarajevo amid heavy security.

Source: The National