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January 22, 2008
Spain: Request For Longer Detention Of Islamist Suspects
News from El Pais newspaper reproduced today in Expatica states that police have requested more time to keep 14 Islamist terror suspects in detention. They are seeking to extend the time that the men - 12 Pakistanis and two Indians - are held, beyond the 72 hour norm.
On Saturday, January 19, the men were arrested in raids at various locations in Barcelona. The news on this raid was carried by Bloomberg, the BBC, New York Times, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Agence France Presse, El Pais via Expatica, Reuters, South Africa's Times, Euronews, Britain's Press Association, ITN News, UPI and Associated Press.
News of the raids was officially announced by Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, who said that more raids were expected and that the country was on high alert. He confirmed that bomb-making material, including four timers, had been found. He said: "When someone has timers at home you have no option but to think violent acts are being planned".
Rubalcaba claimed that the arrested men formed "a well-organised group, who went beyond ideological radicalism to acquiring materials to make explosives. Their aim was to carry out violent attacks."
Spain's socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero tried to downplay the threat, saying: "Let's be as cautious as is advisable in these cases, with regard to the scope, intentions and what this potential group of radical Islamist activists represented."
The raids had been carried out by officials from the National Intelligence Center working with the Spanish Civil Guard. Five homes had been searched during the night of Friday/Saturday. One of the locations visited was a small Barcelona mosque, the officially unauthorized Mezquita Tariq bin Ziyad (pictured).
This mosque on Hospital Street in Raval district, is attended by members of Tablighi Jamaat, a group with known links to extremism, which follows the hardline Deobandi teaching exemplified by the Taliban. It was at this mosque that most of the suspects were apprehended.
The Tablighi Jamaat are behind the proposed construction of the "mega-mosque" in Newham, London. The extremist history of the group - with attempted coups in Pakistan - has given even Muslim residents of Newham cause for concern. The shoebomber Richard Reid, the American Taliban John Walker Lindh, and members of Pakistan's ISI (which helped bring the Taliban to power) have links with this group. Two of the 7/7 bombers attended a Tablighi Jamaat mosque in Dewsbury.
According to local media, the National Intelligence Center warned France, Britain and Portugal that a terror group was planning a terror attack. There was some speculation that the target of the attack may have been President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. As of Sunday January 20, Musharraf is on a European tour. His itinerary includes Brussels, France, Britain and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The group had acquired acetone peroxide, an explosive which has been used in the 7/7 London bombings and also in attacks carried out in Israel and Morocco. This substance is sometimes called "Satan's Mother".
Investigators apparently believe that some of the arrested individuals may have undergone training in Afghan camps. El Pais stated that since 2003, there have been more than 70 arrests in Catalonia for links to jihadist groups. Since March 11, 2004, date of the bombings at Madrid's Atocha train station, killing 191 people, 300 people have been arrested in Spain on terror charges.
The main suspects who were arrested on Saturday had been under surveillance since 2004, and had recently been joined by others who had flown to Spain from Pakistan.
The daughter of one suspect, 62-year old Mohammed Ayub, said: "Why would my father want to blow himself up like they claim? He is retired after working 27 years in the same restaurant in Barcelona. Now he dedicates himself heart and soul to his religion. What is wrong with that?"
It should be noted that the name of this mosque has great political significance, considering Spain's history. Tariq bin Ziyad was a general who led the Islamic conquest of Christian Visigoth Spain in 711 AD.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 22, 2008 6:27 PM
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