The ringleader, who called himself ‘Caliph’, is a Moroccan who authorized the marriage between two Spanish converts to Islam and radicalized.

MADRID, 20 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The operation of the National Police with four young people arrested for crimes of jihadism residing in Madrid and the provinces of Barcelona and Granada initially dates back to 2022 and was precipitated when the agents detected a “turning point” when they detected two of them increasing exponentially their level of radicalization, since they recorded videos in which they demanded “shed blood to recover Al Andalus and restore the Caliphate.”

Of those detained, three are men in their twenties and the fourth is a 31-year-old woman. The video was recorded by a couple made up of a man and this woman, both Spanish converts to Islam, as sources from the anti-terrorist fight have informed Europa Press. The other two men arrested are Moroccan by origin, although one of them already had an ID.

Among those arrested is the considered leader of the group, who called himself ‘Califa’, who is accused of carrying out “massive consumption of violent content and using social networks to recruit and indoctrinate other users,” as reported by the National Police in a statement.

Monitoring these groups allowed the identification of other members of the group, all of them young, who were interconnected with each other, although they did not know each other physically. “Two of them strengthened their ties and ended up getting married, having the authorization of the group leader and beginning to live together in the same home,” as specified by the Police.

It was this new relationship that represented “a turning point” in the investigation, since it was detected that both were exponentially increasing their level of radicalization, recording videos in which they demanded “shed blood to recover Al Andalus and restore the Caliphate.”

The arrests carried out by agents of the General Information Commissariat have been carried out in the towns of Huetor-Tajar (Granada), Cubelles (Barcelona) and Madrid. Researchers have confirmed that these people, “linked through closed social network groups”, had undergone a radicalization process.

The investigation began in 2022, when experts in the fight against terrorism detected the so-called ‘Caliph’, who was the young creator and administrator of several groups in which he tried to indoctrinate young people in the jihadist creed.

This ‘Caliph’ energized his followers and created private groups to which he invited radicals with whom he established greater trust and in which they spoke openly about the terrorist cause, as detailed by the Police.

The operation, which has been developed jointly between the General Information Commissioner’s Office and the Provincial Information Brigades of Granada, Barcelona and Madrid, has been coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court and directed by the Central Court of Instruction number Five. At the international level, it has had the support of the EUROPOL Agency.

According to what legal sources have told Europa Press, the judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz has agreed this Friday to send three detainees to prison – one in Granada and the other two in a town in Barcelona – for the alleged crimes of exaltation and terrorist indoctrination.