Police in Morocco and Spain said on Wednesday two people have been arrested in a joint operation by both countries’ security services targeting “terrorists.”
An Islamic State jihadist group supporter “active between Morocco and Spain”, was arrested Wednesday by special forces of the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, in Nador, a Moroccan border town with Spain’s Mediterranean enclave of Melilla, said a press release from DGST, the domestic intelligence agency.
It said he was being held in custody suspected of “terrorism” and added that an accomplice had been arrested at the same time by Spain’s Civil Guard in the northeast Spanish town of Lleida.
A police spokesperson in Madrid confirmed the arrest of one person.
“It’s a joint operation with Morocco which is ongoing. We have arrested one person on terrorism charges in Lleida,” the spokesperson said.
“The two suspects were in touch with elements of Daesh (the Arab acronym for IS) in Syria, preparing to carry out terrorist operations in Europe,” the same source said.
Morocco’s DGST said investigators found that the two suspects had contacted an illegal immigration network to get false identity documentation.
In January, security services in Morocco said authorities there had broken up a jihadist cell linked to the Islamic State group and arrested its three members in a joint operation with Spain. A Spanish police source confirmed the Moroccan statement.
The North African country has been largely spared acts of violence by jihadist groups, but its security services often report crackdowns and foiled attack plans.