Moroccan security services arrested, on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, in the southern cities of Marrakech, Laayoune and Boujdour, a seven member terrorist cell related to the so-called Islamic state (ISIS).
According to investigations, the suspects were planning to join ISIS ranks in Syria and Iraq before deciding to go to Libya through Moroccan-Mauritanian borders with the support of Polisario separatists who are specialized in trafficking and organized crime, the Interior Ministry pointed out in a statement.
The arrested people planned to get arms and carry out terrorist acts in the ISIS style, the same source added.
The suspects will be brought before justice after the completion of investigations conducted under the competent public prosecutor's office.
The Sahel-Saharan region has always been a trade and migration route. However, factors such as the lack of state authority, corruption and the presence of arms have created an ideal environment for illicit trafficking.
This has increasingly become the case for the areas abutting the Western Sahara, especially northern Mauritania and the Polisario-administered camps in southwest Algeria, which have become major hubs for drug trafficking, the smuggling of contraband, and the circulation of weapons.
