By Deirdre Tynan • Published: 05 Aug 2021 • 12:15
Image: EWN
The Guardia Civil has detained in Mallorca the leader of an organisation dedicated to human trafficking and financing jihadist terrorism.
Members of the Guardia Civil detained an Algerian man on July 31 in the town of Llucmajor, Mallorca, for terrorism offences.
The investigation revealed that he led a criminal organisation involved in human trafficking with connections to “facilitating groups” based in North Africa.
Taking advantage of this infrastructure, the suspect facilitated the transfer of combatants from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to areas controlled by jihadist factions in Libya, groups that he in turn financed with funds from his criminal activity.
The operation to detain the suspect in Mallorca was carried out in close cooperation with Interpol and the Algerian authorities. The suspect had multiple passports and travelled frequently, the Guardia Civil said on 5 August.
The Guardia Civil suspects that the criminal organization he was behind in Mallorca was bringing terrorist fighters from Algeria to Spain.
Separately, Interpol revealed that an organized crime group based in Spain which smuggled migrants by sea from Algeria to the Spanish coast was dismantled in early July.
Law enforcement officials from 47 countries participated in Operation Liberterra and carried out 500,000 inspections at checkpoints and airports as well as at hotspots identified through intelligence and investigations around the world.
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Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.
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