Spain arrests 4 with links to IS recruitment platform
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SPAIN said yesterday it has broken up an online network accused of recruiting young women to join Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria and arrested four suspects.
The arrests came as European nations scramble to halt a surge in young people wanting to travel to Iraq and Syria to fight with the jihadists.
Two of the suspects were arrested in Melilla, the Spanish enclave neighboring Morocco, in the latest operation by Spain’s authorities targeting such recruiting networks.
The others were held in Girona and Barcelona in northeast Spain. Police were conducting searches of all four suspects’ homes.
The two detained in Melilla were said to be behind several Internet platforms spreading propaganda, particularly for the Islamic State group, the interior ministry said in a statement.
“In line with the strategy of the Daesh terrorist group, they focused on the recruitment of women who, after a process of indoctrination, would end up joining the terrorist group in conflict zones,” it said, referring to the Arabic name for IS.
Private home visits were also organized for recruiting purposes and a number of young people had begun preparations to travel to war zones, the ministry said.
One of those arrested ran a “virtual community” with Islamic State propaganda and more than 1,000 subscribers, it said.
On Facebook, he had a “multitude of subscribers” outside Spain, including Latin America and countries such as Belgium, France, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States, the statement said.
One of the suspects arrested in Spain’s northeast was described as an Islamic State sympathizer-turned-propagandist who had the profile of a “lone wolf.”
The other was said to have edited and distributed videos to recruit potential jihadists.
The authorities are working to establish links between the two in Melilla and those in Spain’s northeast.
Spain has dismantled several networks, particularly in Melilla and its other north African enclave, Ceuta. They constitute the only land borders between Africa and Europe and attract thousands of people trying to reach European countries.
About 550 Western women are believed to have gone to Syria to join the jihadist cause.
Spain estimates that about 100 nationals have joined jihadist fighters in Iraq and Syria, a lower number than those from Britain, France and Germany.
In August, two young Spanish women, one of them under 18, were arrested in Melilla on suspicion of trying to join an Islamic State cell in the Middle East.
Seven people were arrested in Spain and Morocco in December for allegedly recruiting young women via the Internet to join IS fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Britain said about 500 people have traveled to join jihadist groups, while France said about 1,400 have either joined or plan to join the jihadist cause.
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