Returning DAESH fighter arrested in Malaga by Guardia Civil on Friday attempted to buy weapons and bullet-proof vests in Spain

Ahmed SAMSAM, 27 years old, had travelled to Spain one day prior to having to go to prison in Denmark to serve out a sentence. During his stay in Spain, he had actively attempted to purchase weapons and protective material such as bullet-proof vests.

His degree of radicalisation has led him to join Jihadi groups in Syria back in 2012 and he subsequently joined up to the ranks of DAESH, as could clearly be seen in photographs available on the social media in which he explicitly employed symbols of the terrorist group, as well as using weapons and explosives for a period of more than three years in actions on behalf of DAESH in Syria.

Once he returned, far from cutting off his ties with terrorist activity, he continued to spread material supporting the Jihadi group, administering his profile on Facebook and through publications on his YouTube channel. He maintained this activity until his arrest, as could be seen through an analysis of his devices.

His level of danger and instability had reached such a high degree that even his inner circle confirmed the risk this individual posed to public security. This fact, together with his interest in purchasing weapons and bullet-proof vests in Spain led his close friends and family to think that he was preparing to take another step in his terrorist activity in Spain.

Investigators had observed during his stay in Spain, after fleeing from the action of the Danish system of justice, that he had been employing counter-intelligence techniques, both at a personal and an IT level. In fact, he had been trained in advanced techniques that hindered the task of surveillance. He also used encrypted applications and media that made it difficult to extract information.

Since 26 June 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 180 Jihadist terrorists in operations carried out in Spain and abroad and a total of 225 since the start of 2015.

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.