Spanish Guardia Civil arrest a Moroccan citizen in Calahorra (La Rioja) for offences of terrorist indoctrination and glorification in support of DAESH

The investigations that led to the arrest of Salim Aghmir on 1 December 2015 placed the man arrested on Wednesday morning firmly under suspicion by law enforcement officers. The latter was a regular patron of the catering establishment that the former ran in Pamplona, and was directly involved in activities relating to the glorification of and distribution of propaganda from the terrorist group DAESH.

After demonstrating his direct participation in these activities, investigating officers observed that A.B. clearly increased the security measures he was using - both regarding his travel around the city and his online activities - in an attempt to go unnoticed and, no doubt, suspecting that he was under some sort of police surveillance. This situation led A.B. to suddenly and unexpectedly relocate his place of residence to the town of Calahorra in La Rioja.

Furthermore, those leading the investigation were able to show that, following the arrest of Salim Aghmir, A.B. independently continued his process of terrorist radicalisation, indoctrination and self-indoctrination by conducting activities in support of those communications from various terrorist groups operating in the conflict zones of Syria and Iraq, mainly DAESH.

His explicit support for the recent terrorist actions claimed by DAESH in Paris was also clear, as was his support for the Muslims who travel to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the terrorist group.

As can be seen from the recent Jihadi terrorist actions on European soil, the profile of A.B. coincides with the majority; these being people apparently integrated into the community where they live and who, following a process of radicalisation, go on to take up the ideologies of DAESH and become potentially dangerous threats for national security.

At present, and following collaboration from the National Intelligence Centre (Spanish acronym: CNI), the investigating officers are searching the home and place of work of the arrested individual with the hope of finding documentation or computer material that could help clarify further possible links, both in Spain and further afield.

The Ministry for Home Affairs reminds the public that the 'Stop Radicalism' initiative provides people with a series of channels through which they can safely and confidentially inform the Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime [Spanish acronym: CITCO] of any possible cases of radicalisation in their community: the website www.stop-radicalismos.es, the public safety alert mobile app Alertcops and the freephone number 900 822 066.