MADRID/RABAT – Nine suspected members of a terrorist cell linked to the Islamic State, or IS, have been arrested Friday in an undergoing joint operation by Spanish and Moroccan police in the north African Spanish city of Melilla and the neighboring Moroccan town of Nador.
Among those arrested, one of them a Spaniard and the other eight Moroccans, is the chief of the cell, the Spanish Interior Ministry reported.
In Rabat, sources close to the operation told Efe the head of the dismantled cell is from Melilla and is the brother of a former member of the Spanish army who has also been linked to jihadism and whose whereabouts are unknown.
The detainee had traveled on several occasions to Mali and other places and was in charge of recruiting followers, especially in the area of Nador, in the northeast of Morocco.
During the raid Spanish and Moroccan police seized a large amount of documents which are being carefully studied, the sources said.
Another joint operation by Spanish and Moroccan police last March led to the arrest of seven jihadists living in Spain and Morocco, who were under the leadership of a Spaniard identified as Mustapha Maya Amaya, also based in Melilla.
In January this year Morocco arrested 20 people and dismantled another cell active in the north of the country headed by a Spanish-Moroccan citizen who had served in Spain’s military and was based in Nador to recruit sympathizers of jihadism
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