Spanish police claim uniforms destined for Isis and Nusra Front fighters would have been ‘enough to equip an entire army’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Spain’s interior ministry has announced the seizure of 20,000 military uniforms being sent to fighters from Islamic State and the Nusra Front.

The ministry said that police conducted a counter-terrorism operation last month in the port cities of Valencia and Algeciras, where officers opened three shipping containers. Authorities found the uniforms and other military accessories.

A ministry statement released on Thursday said that police arrested seven people on suspicion of providing logistical and financial support to Isis and the Nusra Front.



The police operation “neutralised a very active and efficient business network whose primary purpose was to supply, maintain and strengthen [Isis]”, according to the statement.

“The containers which carried the military uniforms were declared as secondhand clothes so as to not raise suspicions and be able to pass different customs inspections without any difficulty,” the police statement said.

“With the roughly 20,000 military uniforms and accessories, it would have been possible to equip an entire army, which would be ready to enter into combat in any of the battlegrounds which jihadist terrorist organisations have round the world,” it added.

One of the firms run by the suspects who were detained last month was dedicated to importing used clothes.

One of those arrested was a man who dispatched “military material, money, electronic and transmission material, firearms and precursors for making explosives” to Syria and Iraq via a company, police said at the time.

This was shipped out in closed containers under the guise of humanitarian aid.