In Spain, the region of Catalonia leads the country disproportionally in anti-jihadist operations and arrests, El Debate reports.
Catalonia, and Barcelona in particular, has become Spain’s security risk hotspot. Stemming recent rising crime levels was a major point in the regional election held in May.
Police sources last month told The Objective that the region continues to be one of the principal places in Spain where radicalization and subsequent recruitment into terror cells takes place.
So far in 2024, Spanish police forces have carried out 28 operations leading to 50 arrests for crimes including indoctrination, financing terrorism, or directly preparing an attack. However, almost half of these actions—twelve of the 28 operations, or 42.8%, and 19 of the 50 arrests—have taken place in Catalonia, with most operations occurring in the provinces of Barcelona and Girona. The high number of arrests and raids come despite the two provinces accounting for only 13% of Spain’s population.
At the same time, El Debate notes, the province with the next highest number of arrests is Melilla, a Spanish exclave on the North African coast, where six people have been detained in two police operations.
The biggest single operation took place in Girona in June, with police arresting nine people. Earlier in the year, on January 16th, another significant police operation led to the arrest of four people believed to be in the process of buying weapons in preparation for a terrorist attack. The head of this cell was a Chechen national who had already served jail time for a similar crime. In this case, the detainees were released because it could not be proven that they had intended to buy weapons nor that they were being radicalized.
