4 suspected jihadists detained in Spain

Spanish police on Tuesday arrested four suspected jihadists in two separate operations in the north of Spain.

Spanish authorities confirm the detention of three 27-year-old Moroccans by the National Police force in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque region, while a woman was also arrested in the city of Lugo in the north-western community of Galicia.

The three Moroccans were detained in the towns of Urretxu, Ibarra and Urnieta and face charges of indoctrination for using social network sites to spread propaganda about the Islamic State (DAESH).

The Spanish Interior Ministry informs the trio posted messages to incite hatred, as well as graphic images of fighting in Iraq and Syria and that they had contact with individuals who had shown themselves open to their ideas.

The woman who was arrested in Lugo is described as a convert to Islam, who had previously been arrested by Civil Guards in 2018. She is reported to be an active consumer of jihadist propaganda who had celebrated acts of jihadist violence online, among them the August 2017 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils (north-east Spain) which claimed 16 lives.

Spanish authorities say the woman had expressed her intention to use a vehicle in a copycat attack similar to the one which took 14 lives when a van was driven at high speed at pedestrians on Las Ramblas in Barcelona on Aug. 17, 2017.