Police arrest "foreign terrorist fighter" in northeast Spain

Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-23 04:41:24|Editor: yan
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MADRID, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Spanish security forces on Saturday arrested a "foreign terrorist fighter" in the town of Mataro in northeast Spain, the National Police said.

The detainee, a 33-year-old Moroccan man, had fought in Syria after leaving Morocco in 2014 to join the ranks of the Islamic State (IS). He "would have conducted military practices for the group in order to plan the development of a long-range missile base in Syria," the National Police explained.

The knowledge acquired in the training camps of this organization in the use of weapons and its extreme radicalism make him a real threat capable of carrying out a terrorist action.

"He used pseudonyms and (...), he lacked documentation that could identify him, since this is usually destroyed when they arrive in a conflict zone to avoid being recognized as members of DAESH(IS)," the security forces said.

The detainee, whom the police considers as a serious threat, entered Spain illegally in June 2018 and lived in Barcelona.

Since Spain raised its Antiterrorist Alert Level to 4 out of 5 in June 2015, security forces have arrested 326 extremists.

The 2017 terrorist attacks on La Ramblas in Barcelona and in the town of Cambrils claimed 16 lives.

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