MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th October, 2021) Europol said on Thursday that its European Counter Terrorism Centre has supported an operation by the Spanish police to arrest five Algerians over suspected membership in Islamic State (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia).
"With the active support of Europol's European Counter Terrorism Centre, the Spanish National Police (Policia Nacional) has arrested in Barcelona and Madrid five suspected members of an Islamic State cell," a statement read.
All the evidence is being examined to "identify further investigative leads across Europe," it added.
The suspects are believed to have been plotting a terrorist attack. The police picked up their trail when they tried to obtain a Kalashnikov rifle. Searches in their homes found several rounds of ammunition and large machetes, according to the statement.
The investigation, dubbed Operation ARBAC, began last December after the Spanish police became aware of the arrival of an IS member with two accomplices in Barcelona. These individuals were arrested in January on charges of preparing a terrorist attack.
The police then found that the suspects were linked to an individual in Algeria, known as Sheikh, who is believed to be in charge of a terrorist cell. Sheikh had been arrested in Turkey in 2016 for attempts to join the IS, and once released, traveled to several countries, including Malaysia, Tanzania, and Algeria, where he is believed to have recruited IS members. He arrived in Spain in May of this year and was under surveillance ever since. The police identified a group of radicalized Algerians around him and subsequently arrested all of them.
