https://elpais.com/espana/2020-12-2...amenazar-con-un-machete-a-los-viandantes.html
The National Police are investigating as a frustrated jihadist attack a street event that occurred on Christmas day in Castellón de la Plana, in which a Moroccan citizen was arrested. Armed with a machete and shouting “Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest ), I’m going to kill you,” he threatened the people he passed in the street. The detainee has been identified as Mohamed Q., 45 years old and cousin of Mhammed Q., a jihadist who resided in Castellón before moving to Syria to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS, for its acronym in English). The latter was arrested a year ago in Istanbul when he was trying to return to Europe and is currently imprisoned in Morocco.
The arrest took place around 4:00 p.m. on December 25, after the police received a notice that an individual was walking through the streets of Castellón with a knife in his hand and threatening to kill the people who crossed him, according to what the Ministry of the Interior said in a notice on Monday. Upon arriving at the scene, two uniformed Citizen Security agents encountered Mohamed Q., who, armed with a 35-centimeter machete, attacked them. The two policemen, who suffered bruises, were able to immobilize him and proceed to arrest him. In addition to the machete, the arrested man carried a knife.
The characteristics of the event led the National Police General Information Commissary, which specializes in the fight against terrorism, to dispatch a team that day from Madrid to investigate the events under the direction of the National High Court, the judicial body in charge of dealing with cases of jihadism. Police sources point out that the incident bears similarities to recent attacks in other European countries, including the attacks in October in a church in Nice (France) in which three people were killed with a knife, and in the German city of Dresden, where an individual stabbed two tourists, one of whom died. Switzerland has also classified as a terrorist attack the stabbing, at the end of November, of two people in a supermarket in Lugano by a woman.
The first investigations revealed that Mohamed Q., who had legal residence in Spain, had a lengthy criminal record, including a crime of sexual abuse of minors, but also that he was a relative of a Foreign Terrorist Fighter (Foreign Terrorist Combatant) who moved to Syria to fight in ISIS. The latter is Mhammed Q., a Moroccan citizen who had lived in Castellón before moving to conflict zones, and who was arrested by the Turkish police in January of this year in Istanbul when he tried to return to Europe together with other jihadists. Mhammed Q. was deported by the Ankara authorities a few days later to Morocco, where he is currently imprisoned, according to sources close to the investigation.
In the register of Mohamed Q.’s home in Castellón, the agents located two mobile phones, whose content is being analyzed. The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz ordered this Monday his admission to prison, accused of a crime of terrorist threats, as confirmed by judicial sources. With this arrest, there are already 37 alleged jihadists arrested in Spain in 2020, according to statistics from the Interior Ministry.
The National Police are investigating as a frustrated jihadist attack a street event that occurred on Christmas day in Castellón de la Plana, in which a Moroccan citizen was arrested. Armed with a machete and shouting “Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest ), I’m going to kill you,” he threatened the people he passed in the street. The detainee has been identified as Mohamed Q., 45 years old and cousin of Mhammed Q., a jihadist who resided in Castellón before moving to Syria to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS, for its acronym in English). The latter was arrested a year ago in Istanbul when he was trying to return to Europe and is currently imprisoned in Morocco.
The arrest took place around 4:00 p.m. on December 25, after the police received a notice that an individual was walking through the streets of Castellón with a knife in his hand and threatening to kill the people who crossed him, according to what the Ministry of the Interior said in a notice on Monday. Upon arriving at the scene, two uniformed Citizen Security agents encountered Mohamed Q., who, armed with a 35-centimeter machete, attacked them. The two policemen, who suffered bruises, were able to immobilize him and proceed to arrest him. In addition to the machete, the arrested man carried a knife.
The characteristics of the event led the National Police General Information Commissary, which specializes in the fight against terrorism, to dispatch a team that day from Madrid to investigate the events under the direction of the National High Court, the judicial body in charge of dealing with cases of jihadism. Police sources point out that the incident bears similarities to recent attacks in other European countries, including the attacks in October in a church in Nice (France) in which three people were killed with a knife, and in the German city of Dresden, where an individual stabbed two tourists, one of whom died. Switzerland has also classified as a terrorist attack the stabbing, at the end of November, of two people in a supermarket in Lugano by a woman.
The first investigations revealed that Mohamed Q., who had legal residence in Spain, had a lengthy criminal record, including a crime of sexual abuse of minors, but also that he was a relative of a Foreign Terrorist Fighter (Foreign Terrorist Combatant) who moved to Syria to fight in ISIS. The latter is Mhammed Q., a Moroccan citizen who had lived in Castellón before moving to conflict zones, and who was arrested by the Turkish police in January of this year in Istanbul when he tried to return to Europe together with other jihadists. Mhammed Q. was deported by the Ankara authorities a few days later to Morocco, where he is currently imprisoned, according to sources close to the investigation.
In the register of Mohamed Q.’s home in Castellón, the agents located two mobile phones, whose content is being analyzed. The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz ordered this Monday his admission to prison, accused of a crime of terrorist threats, as confirmed by judicial sources. With this arrest, there are already 37 alleged jihadists arrested in Spain in 2020, according to statistics from the Interior Ministry.
