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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Morocco Busts 10-member Terrorist Cell Linked to ISIS

Last updated Monday, February 22, 2016 09:21 ET

Moroccan authorities arrested on Thursday a terror cell whose members pledged allegiance to ISIS

Bethesda, USA, 02/22/2016 / SubmitMyPR /

Morocco's Interior Ministry released on Thursday, February 18, 2016 a statement saying that investigations conducted by the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), an offshoot of Morocco’s domestic intelligence agency (DGST) led to the dismantling of a terror cell whose members pledged allegiance to the so-called "Islamic State’’.

Composed of 10 people, including a French national, the network was active in the cities of Essaouira, Meknès and Sidi Kacem, said the statement.

According to the same source, during this operation, the police arrested the mastermind of this cell in a "safe house" in the city of Al Jadida, and seized four machine guns, three revolvers, an automatic pistol, a rifle, important quantities of ammunition, thirteen teargas bombs, four expandable batons, an electric Taser, six plastic bottles containing explosives, foreign passport, four computers, mobile phones, a flag of the so-called "Islamic State" and military uniforms.

The terror cell, which was busted on Thursday, is a "real commando" that planned terrorist attacks this Friday in Morocco, Director of the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), Abdelhak Khiame, said at a press briefing at the BCIJ headquarters in Salé.

Khiame said that the terror cell was planning attacks against public institutions and civil and military figures in order to undermine Morocco's security and stability.

‘’What characterizes this cell is the nature of weapons brought from Libya, as they are made from toxic biological and chemical substances which could be used to make explosives, in addition to its recruitment of a French citizen and a 16-year-old man who received training to carry out a suicide car bomb attack’’, Khiame stated.

He pointed out that the leader (from Laayoune), received, after pledging allegiance to ISIS, several weapons from Libya, and military training near the southern city of Tan-Tan.

Khiame added that the terror cell set up a training camp in Sehb El Harcha (20 km from Tan-Tan), concluding that they chose this site because of its resemblance with the zones of ISIS in Syria and Iraq.