The National Police has concluded a complex anti-terrorist operation with which it has prevented a large-scale attack that Daesh was planning in France. The device, which has reached several countries, ended with eight detainees, five of them in Spain, where there was already a man prepared to attack.
This alleged member of Daesh has already been sentenced to two years in prison for terrorism crimes. During the search of his home, handgun ammunition and an ax were found. Manuals for making explosives, manuals for indoctrination of minors and jihadist propaganda have also been seized from those arrested.
The investigation, which began in 2021, began when the General Information Commissioner (CGI) detected that a person of Maghreb origin, residing in Spain, was in contact with a jihadist who had entered Europe through the so-called Balkan route.
The objective of this man was to reach France to commit an attack on behalf of Daesh, to which the person under investigation in Spain offered his collaboration. After an intense investigation, the CGI jihadist counterterrorism specialists located in Switzerland the man who intended to commit the attack in France, so they transmitted the information to their colleagues at the Swiss Federal Police Office (FEDPOL).
The CGI organized a joint operation in Switzerland and Spain that resulted in the simultaneous arrest in March 2022 of both radicals. The “high risk” involved in planning the attack decreased considerably with these two arrests. However, the support network remained active.
In that first phase of the operation, six other arrests were made in Europe and the Maghreb, bringing the total number of detainees to eight. After this first part of the operation, CGI analysts discovered that the two detainees were part of an international network supporting Daesh that was established on three continents. A joint macro-operation then began with the Security and Intelligence Services of twelve countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Maghreb.
Those arrested in Spain resided in the provinces of Valencia (two of them), Cáceres, Alicante and Guipúzcoa.
As reported by the National Police, the arrests are part of the second phase of the ‘Miya’ operation, initiated by the General Information Commissariat and which has had the collaboration of Intelligence and Security Services from 12 countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Switzerland or the United States, in addition to Europol.
The operation has concluded after it was learned that one of those investigated in Spain had shown a desire to carry out an attack, which precipitated the exploitation of the operation.
In 2021, the National Police detected that a person of North African origin, residing in Spain, was in contact with a jihadist who had entered Europe to attack France, and that the North African had shown his support in this action.
The specialists from the General Information Commissariat located, after an exhaustive investigation, the jihadist in Switzerland and “given the risk of a possible attack”, the joint operation with Switzerland was organized “in record time.”
In that first phase of the operation, six other arrests were made in Europe and the Maghreb, bringing the total number of detainees to eight.
The first phase of the operation made it possible to discover that the detainees were part of an international network supporting Daesh established in Europe, the Middle East and the Maghreb.
Its members were allegedly dedicated to obtaining funds from the commission of crimes in Europe to finance their terrorist activities. In that sense they moved amounts of up to 200,000 euros.
This operation has involved the dismantling of part of the infrastructure and support channels of Daesh established in Europe, the Middle East and the Maghreb, as well as the support of new followers in their jihadist desires.
The General Information Commissariat has carried out 22 operations so far this year in which 54 suspected jihadists have been arrested, 36 of them in nine operations carried out in the last two months.
