Madrid, Jun 28 (EFE).- Six suspected members of an Islamic State terror organization cell have been detained in three European countries as part of a counter-terror operation conducted by Spanish police, Spain's interior minister said Wednesday.
Four of the suspects were detained on the Spanish tourist hotspot island of Mallorca, a second was held by police in Germany and a third, an imam who preached the hardline Salafist branch of Sunni Islam, was tracked down by security agents in the United Kingdom.
"The cell had an international network, made and disseminated extremist audiovisual material and held weekly clandestine meetings aimed at influencing young adherents and to encourage them to travel to conflict zones," the interior ministry said.
An investigation into the cell was launched in 2015 when police discovered online videos that showed the indoctrination, recruitment and passage to Syria of a young Muslim resident of Spain.
According to police, the detainees had openly justified and glorified suicide terror attacks such as those that have struck Europe over the past year.
The public discourse of the imam had been monitored by security services and European intelligence agencies alike but, according to investigators, he had focused his private activities on trying to recruit would-be IS militants and raise money to send them to Syria.
Police said he had traveled to Mallorca to meet members of the cell there and had since become their spiritual leader.
His constantly changing location and the security measures he adopted hampered police efforts to carry out his arrest but he was finally tracked down to a neighborhood of Birmingham, central England.
The 44-year-old, whose identity is yet to be released, was now in police custody.
In Germany, police arrested a suspect who had maintained direct contact with those detained in Mallorca and the UK and is thought to have participated in propaganda videos created by the group.
Spain's interior ministry said the suspects in Mallorca had progressively increased their number of followers by using social media and by organizing secret meetings to propagate their extremist agenda.
Police noted their alleged allegiance to the IS and their justification of so-called lone wolf attacks and violent terror attacks across Europe.
Property searches in all three countries were ongoing.
The operation was conducted cooperatively with the aid of Spain's intelligence agency, German federal and local police, London's Metropolitan Police, the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit in Birmingham and Europol.
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IMAGE COURTESY OF THE SPANISH NATIONAL POLICE. FOOTAGE OF THE OPERATION.
Keywords: efe,jihadist terrorism,daesh,mallorca,germany,united kingdom,nomonetizar
Palabras clave: efe,terrorismo yihadista,daesh,mallorca,alemania,reino unido,nomonetizar
