First police strike against jihadist terrorism in 2024. The Civil Guard and the Mossos d'Esquadra launched an operation early this morning that has resulted in five people arrested in Catalonia and Mérida. Those arrested, according to sources close to the investigation, have a long history in organized crime, with links to arms trafficking and drug trafficking.
Four of the arrests have been carried out in Rubí, Sant Pere de Ribes, Martorell and Mérida. The fifth of the arrests occurred in the Brians 2 prison, where an inmate of Chechen origin, who was serving a sentence for arms trafficking, was detained. The prisoner did not have a criminal record behind him that was related to jihadist terrorism.
From the investigation carried out so far, which has been directed by the judge of the National Court Joaquín Gadea, it does not appear that the five detainees were preparing a terrorist action. Although it is true that the researchers detected that they were undergoing a rapid radicalization process.
It remains to be seen if after the searches in the homes of Rubí, Sant Pere de Ribes and Martorell, in the province of Barcelona, as well as in Mérida, documentation is seized that supports this hypothesis or they find information that points to the intention to attack some target. concrete. The judge has decreed the secrecy of the proceedings and the expectation is that the detainees will be brought to justice between this coming Thursday and Friday, according to legal sources.
This joint operation is the first against jihadism in 2024, after last year it closed with the highest number (78) of detainees in recent decades. Only surpassed, according to the records of the Ministry of the Interior, by 2004 and 2005, years marked by the 11-M attack in Madrid.
The bulk of the arrests were concentrated in the last three months of the year, after the Hamas attack in Israel and the subsequent offensive in Gaza increased jihadist activity.
