The woman arrested this Monday for allegedly being "directly involved in the radicalization and facilitation of the trip to Syria" of girls and adolescents converted to Islam "years ago." This has been explained to La Voz by a neighbor of García Escámez street, where the arrested woman lived, who knew the family. According to reports, la woman is just over 40 years old and is from Cadiz, although she has been on the island of Lanzarote for "more than ten years."
Both this neighbor and others who were in the neighborhood this Tuesday morning, the news has taken them "by surprise." Everyone agrees in pointing out that they had not seen "anything strange" in the house. According to them, they had not seen any special traffic in the home, only the woman or her son entering and leaving the building. The arrested woman lived in the home where the arrest took place this Tuesday with her son, who is around 20 years old, and some neighbors point out that her husband, of Maghrebi origin, would also live in the house.
According to this neighbor, it was precisely "because of her husband" that the detainee embraced the Muslim faith. "She was not a Muslim in principle, she became a Muslim because of her husband and converted many years ago," he told La Voz. In addition, this neighbor affirms that the detainee's sister also converted to Islam some time ago, after marrying a man also from the Maghreb.
"They both dress in Arab clothes and so on," he continues. According to other people in the area, the detainee used to wear a veil that "covered her face", although it did not completely cover her body. One of the parking attendants of the lot in front of the house has confirmed to La Voz that he has "not been able to see her face", which was covered with the veil, when she left the guarded house "with a policeman on each side" around 8 in the morning. Regarding her religious fervor, the neighbors say that they were aware that the arrested woman was a convert, but they had not noticed any sign that would make them suspect her radicalization.
Strong police presence
Regarding the arrest, the parking attendant who is usually in the lot in front of the home explained that there were "one or two official police cars" there early in the morning. The device, however, was much broader.
According to reports, several vehicles "with the license plate covered" have also arrived at the lot, which could be police cars in which plainclothes agents are traveling. In addition, the area has been cordoned off for several hours. Specifically, according to reports, García Escámez street "from top to bottom" was surrounded by a police tape that prevented passage, as well as Ginés de la Hoz street, which converges at that point.
Several neighbors point out that the device was launched in the early hours of the morning, around 5:00 a.m. However, according to this parking attendant, it was not until 8:00 a.m. when the arrested woman left the home "with a policeman on one side and another on the other", both in uniform, and several more people in civilian clothes left the home.
