Ministry of the Interior detects 1,180 ‘Jihadist hot spots’ in Malaga

MALAGA is the Andalucian province with the largest number of hot spots at risk of Jihadist radicalisation, according to a new book entitled ‘The Spain of Allah’ by distinguished Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero, a long-time correspondent based in the Middle East and Morocco who works alongside the Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (Citco), a Ministry of State Security body.

The data provided relates to “radicalisation processes” and does not it any way mean that there is a heightened risk of attack on the Costa del Sol, which according to the figures has 1,180 known hot spots, representing 26 per cent of those registered in Andalucia and 3 per cent of the national total.

A hot spot may be a mosque, oratory, phone booth or social meeting point where individuals are susceptible to indoctrination or recruitment to terrorist groups.

At least half a dozen police operations investigating alleged Daesh cells have resulted in more than 20 detainees in Malaga over the last 10 years, with most relating to networks suspected of recruiting young people for deployment in Syria and Iraq.

Andalucia is the second most important autonomous region for such activities, with 4,543 known cases, although it lags way behind leader Cataluña, with 9,836.