The FBI assisted Spanish police in apprehending a Moroccan man they say was planning acts of terrorism during the coronavirus lockdown.
The suspect, who has not yet been publicly identified, was arrested Friday in the coastal city of Barcelona during an early morning raid. The Spanish Civil Guard said the man is a “profoundly radicalized” follower of the Islamic State and had been scouring Barcelona for targets, according to Fox News.
One Spanish news network reported that the suspect could have tried to carry out attacks as soon as this weekend. Authorities said the man had been tied to ISIS for years but had kept a low profile until they noticed a “striking and worrying” change in his behavior since the country began locking down in March.
Spanish authorities were assisted by the FBI and Moroccan General Directorate of Homeland Security. The Washington Examiner reached out to the FBI to ask about the nature of the assistance, but a spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
Investigators feared that the suspect, described as a “lone wolf,” was planning an attack on the city because of ISIS’s call for attacks against countries in Western Europe. He reportedly had been flouting the country’s strict coronavirus lockdown, the guard said in a statement.
“The arrested man had used social media to proclaim his loyalty to ISIS and his hatred for the west,” the statement read. “Surveillance officers noticed that he had begun to disregard the lockdown rules set out in the state of emergency on a regular basis, that he was taking important security measures as he ventured around Barcelona, suggesting he was carrying out a possible search for targets.”
Barcelona was the site of a terrorist attack in August 2017, when a jihadist plowed his van into a crowded street of pedestrians, killing 12 and injuring more than 100. ISIS took credit for the attack.
Friday’s arrest comes after Danish authorities last month arrested a man they said was plotting lone wolf terrorist attacks with a “militant Islamic motive.” That same month, four Tajik citizens were arrested in Germany, with investigators there alleging that the men were part of an operational ISIS cell.
