Madman in Spain Threatens to Commit Terrorist Attack at Shopping Centre

The National Police have arrested a man in Ceuta who called different shopping centres in Madrid and threatened to commit a terrorist attack, similar to the one which took place in the French town of Trebes in 2018 that killed three people.

According to the Superior Police Headquarters in Madrid, the individual, who was arrested in his city of origin for the alleged crime of public disorder and threats, is 34 years old and has numerous police records in relation to drug trafficking, threats and attacks against authority.

“The attack on a supermarket in France is going to happen and I’m going to kill you,” the arrested man said during a call to the customer service operators of a well-known food company. The officers in the police station in the town of Alcobendas, Madrid, were the first to kick off the investigation when they received a complaint from the call centre service of a large shopping centre.

The customer service managers received multiple calls from an individual who was intimidating the operators.  The detainee created a climate of “uncertainty and unease” by threatening to carry out a terrorist attack on the facilities.

Given the magnitude of these events, officers from the Madrid Information Brigade took over the investigation and began to locate this individual. Thankfully, this was carried out in a “very short period of time”, thanks to the collaboration of the security department of the food company who was receiving the intimidating calls.

The investigation is still open, although the officers have not narrowed down that this man is directly related to any radical ideologies, so they suspect that the threats are related to strictly personal reasons.