Spain holds three suspected Islamic State recruiters

Authorities accuse the three of using the Internet to spread messages and videos to promote IS

MADRID: A judge in Spain on Tuesday detained two men and a woman suspected of belonging to a cell that recruited women online to join the Islamic State militant group.

High Court Judge Eloy Velasco charged the three with cooperation with a terrorist organisation and glorification of terrorism after questioning them for several hours, and ordered that they be held in jail while the investigation continues.



The interior ministry said Saturday police had arrested the two men of Moroccan origin, aged 32 and 42, as well as a 24-year-old Spanish woman, in the northeastern city of Barcelona, without specifying the date.

The authorities accuse the three of acting as "representatives" of Islamic State in Spain and of using the Internet to spread messages and videos to promote its ideals and attract women to its ranks.

They said the three were in contact over the Internet with members of Islamic State in Syria.



Like other European nations, Spain has been grappling with a growing number of terrorist cells on its territory and radicalised Muslims leaving to fight for Islamic State or other militant groups in Iraq and Syria.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said Monday that police have arrested 90 suspected extremists so far this year in Spain and more than 600 since the 2004 train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people and injured nearly 2,000.

Spain raised its terror alert to four on a scale of five on June 26 following deadly attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait.