Spain police arrest two suspected ISIS recruiters

Spanish police on Tuesday arrested two Moroccan men accused of using the Internet to recruit the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) supporters, the latest in a string of operations in Spain against backers of the militant movement.

The two suspects were arrested in the Barcelona suburb of Cornella del Llobregat following an eight-month investigation, the interior ministry said in a statement.

“The two were responsible for a cell based in Spain dedicated to the compilation and distribution (online) of propaganda of a terrorist nature which praised and advocated for the jihadist terrorist group Daesh,” the statement said using an Arabic acronym for the ISIS.

The two men “ensnared, radicalized and indoctrinated new militants to serve the organisation in the future,” it added.

They are also accused of hosting closed-door meetings in homes and at a mosque with “the sole goal of impregnating terrorist ideals in future militants”.

Like many European countries, Spain has stepped up surveillance of individuals suspected of supporting militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq, dismantling several recruitment networks in recent months.

Last month police arrested 11 people suspected of links to ISIS, some of who allegedly planned kidnappings and attacks on Jewish shops and public buildings.

In late March in Badalona, another town near Barcelona, four members of a family were arrested over links to a network recruiting militants to go to Syria.

Police in February broke up an online network accused of recruiting young women to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and arrested four suspects.