Morocco: Terrorist Suspect Arrested in Ceuta

19 September 2013

 

Spanish security services on Monday (September 16th) arrested a Moroccan expatriate for allegedly recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria.

Just a few days after the arrest of Mohamed El Bali, a Moroccan expatriate accused of co-ordinating the “Muwahideen” and “Attawhid” cells, another Moroccan terror suspect was arrested in Ceuta.

Yassin Ahmed Laarbi (aka “Pistu”), who has Spanish nationality but is Moroccan by birth, “is the suspected brains behind a network which is actively radicalising, recruiting and sending out Mujahideen to help terrorist groups at work in Syria”, Spanish authorities announced.

“Pistu”, the 39-year-old alleged cell ringleader, is accused of overseeing the training of both Moroccan and Spanish recruits in Ceuta.

The men were part of an international network “dedicated to radicalising, recruiting and sending jihadists to Syria to wage jihad and become martyrs”, a Madrid court said at their arraignment.

The cell reportedly sent an estimated 50 jihadists – most of them from Morocco – to Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. The network asked them to act as “lone wolves” if they returned to Spain or Morocco, to lead Jihadist attacks in France or the United Kingdom, the minister added.

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