The National Police has arrested a 35-year-old Spanish national in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for the alleged commission of crimes of collaboration with a terrorist organization and self-indoctrination. According to the agents, the detainee "had been under investigation for some time for his connections with online jihadist environments" and "had recently experienced an increase in his radicalization, which has precipitated his arrest."
The arrested person was brought to the National Court this Friday and has been placed in pre-trial detention by order of the Central Court of Instruction number 6.
The police investigation has determined that in recent months the arrested person had photographed the headquarters of an LGTBI association on the island, "a group towards which he had shown a special aversion and to which he directed offensive comments." The LGTBI community has been repeatedly singled out by DAESH as one of its objectives.
"The detainee, who was very active on the internet, participating in multiple chats with radical jihadist content, praised the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the United States, 11-M in Madrid or the one committed in August 2017 in Barcelona and Cambrils (Tarragona)," the Police said in a statement. "He also maintained online conversations in which he praised the behavior of other converted jihadists abroad and encouraged them to commit terrorist actions in their countries," he added.
In fact, the detainee had maintained contact with other converted jihadists who were arrested in Colombia and Argentina in 2018 thanks to information provided by the General Information Commissariat of the National Police.
The arrested man said he had converted to Islam in 2004 as a result of the 11-M attacks, but according to the Police "he boasted of wearing a Western aesthetic, with no trace of signs of radicalism in his clothing or on his face, to avoid being detected or arousing the suspicions of the Security Forces."
In the search carried out at his home, the agents found a large amount of material on jihadist terrorism, such as videos with oaths to Daesh by other jihadists, videos with executions and graphic material showing weapons, combat clothing and other war materials.