Guardia Civil arrest an Algerian in Bilbao for glorification, indoctrination and spread of DAESH terrorism ideology

The detainee had previously shown signs of his radical nature and had been linked to activities to finance and provide logistics support through the transfer of funds and falsification of identity documents to the benefit of Al Qaeda. Far from mending his ways, his radicalisation process had heightened over recent months, cutting off almost all social ties and rarely leaving his domicile.

His Internet activity was particularly intense and was carried out through a myriad of Facebook profiles of which he was the administrator, through which he spread the content of almost all of the media producers tied to DAESH, some of which showed extremely violent content. This activity was developed whilst adopting very cautious security measures, particularly in his connections over the Internet.

Among the propaganda content, there was particularly abundant material that praised martyrdom and justified the killing of infidels, which are referred to as "dogs". A good part of this content is difficult to access on the Internet, which demonstrates the extensive knowledge of the production and distribution networks of the media apparatus of DAESH.

Among the detainee's contacts, who was carrying out intense activity on social media, are criminals associated with drug trafficking and others under investigation for terrorism in countries of the European Union.
Given the intense activity of the detainee on social media, particularly through Facebook, the main interest of the investigators is focused on uncovering his network of contacts, both in our country and in other European countries and in conflict zones, which will help clarify his intentions and open up new lines of investigation. The analysis of electronic devices he used to connect to the Internet and to store the content he was spreading will facilitate further progress in this task.

Since 2015, the year in which the Ministry of Home Affairs raised the Counter-Terrorism Alert Level to level 4 (Spanish acronym: NAA-4), the law enforcement agencies have arrested a total of 187 Jihadist terrorists.

The Ministry of Home Affairs sends out a reminder that, through the initiative STOP RADICALISMOS, citizens can collaborate through a series of channels open to them so that, in a confidential and secure manner, they can notify the State law enforcement agencies of possible cases of radicalisation in their vicinity through the web page www.stop-radicalismos.es, the mobile phone app for citizens security alerts Alertcops and the free hotline 900 822 066.