Four arrested in terror probe in Mallorca

ARRESTED: In dawn raid.

A terrorist propaganda cell active on Mallorca was targeted in coordinated National Police raids early yesterday morning.

Four suspected recruiters for Daesh were arrested as armed officers battered down the doors of multiple addresses in Inca, Ariany and Binissalem.

The raids on Mallorca were coordinated with two further arrests of radical preachers in the UK and Germany.

A 44-year-old Imam captured in Birmingham is the leader of the recruitment cell. Police believe he travelled to Palma in 2015 to set up the Mallorca wing of a pan-European effort to lure young Muslims into violence against the west and fighting jihad in Iraq and Syria.

Daesh is responsible for attacks on Manchester, London, Berlin, Nice, and Paris as well as bloodshed across the Middle East.

A statement from the National Police headquarters in Madrid said the Mallorca cell had been busy since his arrival. The group praised recent terrorist atrocities across Europe and spread violent ideological material online.

In their possession were videos of extremist Salafi preachers, and detailed blueprints on how to radicalise vulnerable Muslims in Spain and beyond.

As yet there is no indication that they themselves were planning an attack on Mallorca or elsewhere.

The Europe-wide anti-terror organisation was instigated by Spanish intelligence services two years ago. They found a video trail online narrating the story of a young Muslim resident in Spain who went to fight for Daesh in Syria.

The promoter of the videos was revealed to be the radical Iman based in Birmingham. European intelligence services spent two years garnering evidence against the preacher, who was extremely cautious. It is expected that he will be extradited from the UK to Spain to face trial.

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