BARCELONA, Spain- Three Moroccans and a Spanish national were arrested in the Madrid region for recruiting jihadi followers and spreading extremist Islamic propaganda, the Interior Ministry reported Tuesday. It said in a statement that Civil Guard police arrested the four men in the towns of Pinto and Ciempozuelos. The suspects were part of a network that was disseminating jihadist terrorist ideology through the Internet and recruiting and radicalizing members of the Muslim communities, the statement said. The ministry said investigations found that the group had been able to reach hundreds of people through different web platforms and instant messaging applications. Spain has been a recruitment ground and entrepot for jihadis wanting to get to Syria or Iraq for holy wars. Since June last year, Spain has raised its anti-terrorism threat level from 4 of 5 and anti-terrorism police have been conducting more investigations on jihadist groups in the country. This year alone, Spain has arrested around 20 people involved in jihadi activities. Last month, authorities arrested a man in southern Spain suspected of having supplied weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, the terrorist who attacked a Jewish supermarket in Paris last year. The 27-year old French national was arrested together with other two people from Serbia and Montenegro. All were related to arms trafficking, according to an official statement. In March, police in Spain impounded ship containers filled with military uniforms bound for ISIS. In February, seven suspected members of ISIS were arrested in the Spanish region of Valencia, in the Spanish northern enclave of Ceuta, in Morocco, and in different villages in the Spanish province of Alicante. They were charged with providing logistical support for terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria and trying to get women for militants in those two countries.
