Two alleged jihadists, experts in martial arts, arrested in Madrid | Spain

Experts in fighting and also in jihadism. The National Police arrested two mixed martial arts (MMA) experts last Tuesday in Madrid for alleged radical Islamist activities, as reported this Saturday by the Ministry of the Interior. One of the detainees, whose identity has not been revealed, was a teacher in gyms in the south of the city and the Madrid community and had achieved a certain notoriety on social networks, in addition to having participated in international competitions under the flag of a Central Asian republic, according to sources close to the investigations.

The judge of the National Court Antonio Piña ordered last Friday the entry into provisional prison of both accused of the alleged commission of crimes of self-indoctrination, indoctrination of third parties, distribution of material intended for radicalization and document falsification. With these two arrests, there are now 19 people arrested for jihadism in Spain so far this year. These are, in addition, the first two to be carried out after the start of the US and Israel war against Iran. At the beginning of this week, the Interior decided to reorganize protection in the embassies of different countries in Spain as well as in critical infrastructure and other points considered “especially sensitive” to the risk of attacks.

In this sense, the Police highlight in the note in which they report the arrests that one of those arrested showed in his messages “a marked adherence to global violent jihad and profound anti-Semitism.” Manuel R. Torres, professor of Political Sciences at the Pablo Olavide University of Seville, highlights that “this type of phobias are generated over time and specific events (such as this war conflict) usually serve as reinforcements that add to radicalization processes that develop progressively. The anti-Semitic trick has been a common resource of Iranian propaganda,” adds this expert in jihadism.

During the investigation, which began long before the outbreak of the war, agents from the General Information Commissariat (CGI, an expert in the fight against terrorism) confirmed “the advanced process of radicalization” of the martial arts professor, which was reflected in the consumption and dissemination of abundant propaganda in which he “praised martyrdom and defended the imposition of Islamic law in society” through both social networks and closed instant messaging application channels. The second arrested was one of his pupils and, according to the investigation, he was in charge of disseminating the jihadist material that he supplied to third parties.

During the investigation, searches were carried out at the homes of those arrested, where the police seized a simulated weapon (a large revolver) and various documentation. Ukrainian documentation “obtained irregularly” and indications of the alleged commission of a crime of document falsification have also been located.

The arrests occurred shortly after the Interior decided to reorganize the protection measures that the National Police and Civil Guard provide both in the embassies of different countries in Spain and in critical infrastructure and other points considered “especially sensitive” after the outbreak of the war in the Middle East. However, those responsible for the ministry agreed to maintain the reinforced terrorist alert at level 4, “high risk”, on a scale of five, which was established in October 2023, after the outbreak of another war conflict in that region, which led to the invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli troops.

After the start of this war more than two years ago, the security forces detected that jihadist groups were instrumentalizing what was happening in Gaza to further radicalize their followers with the argument that it was the realization that Muslims supposedly face a threat that justified the use of violence as a legitimate response. This also translated into an increase in the number of anti-jihadist operations, since as of October 2023, the Interior accelerated many of the investigations it had open on suspects of radical Islamist activities due to the fear that the conflict would push them to carry out attacks. Now they do not rule out that the conflict with Iran causes a similar effect. Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza and until now, security forces have arrested 254 suspected Islamist terrorists, according to an estimate made by this newspaper based on official ministry statistics.