Jihadist arrested in Campos, Mallorca

Prior to his transfer to Madrid. | Policia Nacional

Andrew EdePalma11/03/2023 14:50
TW
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Police investigating Rachid, the jihadist arrested in Campos on Thursday, are continuing to check whether he had any contacts in Mallorca and who may have been the reason for him having come to the island. As yet, there is no evidence that he did, an assumption being that he chose Campos as he was aware that there was a sizeable Muslim community in the municipality.

When he arrived on Wednesday, he contacted a building company and asked for a job, so that "he could eat". He told the owner of the company that he had nowhere to spend the night and so he was offered a garage to sleep in.

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He presented a crane driver's licence and said that he was qualified to move heavy construction machinery. Investigators are trying to clarify if the documentation was real or faked. He only had one suitcase weighing about ten kilos. He had no time to gather any more belongings because after unmarked police cars started to arrive on the road where the garage is located, armed patrols closed entrances and exits to Campos and police swarmed into the garage and immediately overwhelmed him.

A hood was placed over his head so that he couldn't identify officers or register features of Manacor police station. On Friday, when he was transferred to Palma for a police helicopter to take him to Madrid, his head was covered at all times. In his most recent posts using different social media profiles, he had made threats against Spanish police officers.

Of the few belongings he had, there was a knife. Police have established that he habitually carried one. Prior to his arrest, there was a fear that he might have indiscriminately stabbed police officers or pedestrians on the street.