During searches carried out at the home of the alleged leader of the group, several machetes were found as well as several dozen cartridges.
Five people suspected of“membership of a terrorist organization” were arrested in Barcelona and Madrid, Spanish police said on Wednesday (October 13th). According to the local daily El Pais (article in spanish), all were imprisoned. The police opened an investigation in December 2020 after having “detected the entry into Spain of a suspected member of the Islamic State”. This Algerian man and two of his compatriots were arrested in January in Barcelona.
Police said this group was under the control of a fourth man they called “Sheikh” and who is accused of“active indoctrination”. Already arrested in 2016 in Turkey while trying to join the Islamic State group, this individual had been released and had traveled to several countries. He was finally arrested in March in Barcelona.
It was the attempted purchase of a Kalashnikov assault rifle by this group that triggered the operation, police said without giving further details. During searches carried out at the home of the alleged leader of the group, several machetes were found as well as several dozen cartridges. Spanish police did not provide further details on the arrest of the fifth man in Madrid in early October.
