Spain and Morocco Maintain Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Despite Diplomatic Tensions

In May or June, in the midst of the diplomatic crisis, Morocco and Spain would have carried out the arrest of jihadist terrorists, indicate intelligence sources from the Spanish services to El Confidencial. The two countries maintained their cooperation in the fight against terrorism throughout these months of crisis, the same sources assure, recalling that it opened in April with Spain’s reception of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, which provoked the reaction of Morocco which would have let in a mass of migrants to Ceuta in May.

To read: Spain Uncovers Jihadists Using Migrant Routes, Praises Morocco Cooperation

It is above all a matter of security, declared a police expert, arguing that no country would give up neutralizing a terrorist target because of a diplomatic crisis. "There have never been any restrictions," indicates another source who admits that the two operations carried out in recent days and which have led to the arrest of terrorists thanks to the police collaboration between the two countries, are the logical continuation of those also successfully carried out during the crisis.

However, a cooling of relations has been noted in terms of training, reports the newspaper, which did not record any capacity building sessions for Spanish police officers in Morocco during the period. But at the operational and intelligence level, the collaboration has remained intact, assures the same source.

To read: Morocco’s Intelligence Crucial in Thwarting Terror Attacks, Says Ex-Spanish Minister

On Thursday, an inmate of the Zaragoza prison is said to have attacked other inmates and even threatened the judicial authorities to have him released. The operation was carried out by agents of the Provincial Information Brigade of Zaragoza, with the collaboration of the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST) of Morocco. Two days earlier, the DGST had announced the arrest in Tangier of a Moroccan jihadist accused of attempting to carry out terrorist attacks against tourist sites. The investigation began in late 2020, when the General Information Commission of the Spanish National Police detected that this terrorist was praising the perpetrators of the latest jihadist attacks carried out in Europe.