The Spanish National Police has arrested three men of Moroccan nationality in San Isidro, Tenerife suspected of recruiting and financing terrorism. The three arrestees, respectively 27, 35 and 37 years old, were facilitating the trip to Syria of a jihadist in order to join the terrorist group Al Nusra. Al Nusra is a Salafist jihadist organisation fighting in the Syrian Civil War, with the aim of establishing an Islamic state in the country.
The alleged jihadist, a 35 year-old Moroccan national, was recruited and radicalised by the three arrestees, and eventually left for Syria in 2013. In 2015 the man returned to Tenerife, with severe battlefield injuries. The three detainees covered up his return and supported him financially to flee to Central Europe, presumably using false identification documents, where he tried to hide as a refugee. Eventually he was arrested in Budapest and extradited to Morocco by the Hungarian authorities.
The operation was carried by the Comisaría General de Información, in collaboration with Europol and its European Counter Terrorism Centre. Overall, 4 specialists were sent to Tenerife and Madrid to support the Spanish authorities and to carry out forensic analysis.
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