A counter-terrorist investigation led by the Spanish National Police, and supported by Europol, has led to the arrests of 6 individuals (4 in Spain, 1 in the United Kingdom and 1 in Germany) accused of belonging to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS).



The investigation began in 2015 when the Spanish authorities detected a series of videos showing how a young Muslim, resident in Spain, was being indoctrinated, recruited and travelled to Syria. Investigations revealed the existence of a terrorist cell with international links that elaborated and disseminated very radical audio-visual materials. The cell also organised clandestine meetings to spread a violent extremist ideology among young people and to convince them to travel to conflict zones.



The 6 arrestees publicly supported the violent jihad and to perform suicide attacks.



Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) has supported the Spanish authorities on-the-spot by deploying one counter terrorist specialist to Mallorca to crosscheck the data found against Europol’s databases in real-time.



This is the moment the Spanish National Police arrested the suspects in Spain.





See the Spanish National Police’s press release.