Spain’s National Police and Civil Guard have identified several known jihadis who were previously investigated and deported from the country among the mass influx of migrants who breached the border and entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on July 30.
Denial is a well-known trait among much of the European left-wing political establishment. It’s worth recalling that for years, even in Italy, several left-wing politicians have been saying that ‘terrorists don’t arrive by sea,’ only to be proven wrong by the facts.
Officials believe the jihadis are among the approximately 5,000 migrants who remain in Ceuta and are resisting deportation. They allegedly plan to relocate clandestinely to mainland Spain and other European countries. Spain has arrested 196 jihadis and deported 116 since 2021.
Intelligence sources told Spanish newspaper The Objective that cameras at the Ceuta border have been key to detecting the jihadi infiltration. Police are also reviewing images and videos on social media and in the news that have surfaced during the migrant crisis to check for jihadi presence.
Some of the jihadis had been under investigation for several months both by Moroccan and Spanish counter-terrorism agencies, sources told the newspaper. El Español confirmed that police had identified at least a dozen jihadis who are being investigated for terrorism offenses in Spain.
Soldiers stationed in Ceuta told Periodista Digital that the “worst” of the migrants had remained in the Spanish territory. The news outlet also reported on claims of firearms being discovered among the illegal aliens from Morocco. A jihadi who traveled to Syria in 2016 to join an Islamist terrorist group was arrested in Ceuta.
Interior Ministry Denies Reports of Jihadi Infiltration
Spain’s Interior Ministry, however, denied the claims and insisted that the migrants are not an Islamist threat. “The Spanish public and the people of Ceuta can be confident that the arrivals on 30 July do not pose a threat to public security,” a government spokesperson maintained.
“Denial is a well-known trait among much of the European left-wing political establishment. It’s worth recalling that for years, even in Italy, several left-wing politicians have been saying that ‘terrorists don’t arrive by sea,’ only to be proven wrong by the facts,” Giovanni Giacalone, a terrorism expert at the International Team for the Study of Security Verona, told Focus on Western Islamism.
“It is a fact that irregular migration flows pose a real and proven threat not only in relation to crime but also to jihadist terrorism. The Italian government was therefore right to suspend the Schengen Agreement with Spain immediately,” he emphasized, citing several examples of jihadi attackers in recent years illegally entering Europe.
In a post on X, Manuel Gavira, Member of the Andalusian Parliament, warned that jihadis were “among the Ceuta invaders” and were being transported by the mafias to the Andalusian coast. The Vox politician blamed Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s “concessions to Morocco and his suicidal immigration policies” for turning Spain’s borders “into a sieve.”
Counter-terrorism experts have warned of an increasing presence of radicalized Muslims in Ceuta and Melilla—Spanish enclaves on the North African coast sharing a border with Morocco.
Since the 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid which killed more than 1,900 people, Spanish security services have arrested dozens of members of two North African terror organizations—one that calls itself Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (“Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat”) and another named Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain (“Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group”)—as well as other al-Qaeda sympathizers in Ceuta, Melilla, and Andalusia, according to a 2006 report in the Terrorism Monitor published by the Jamestown Foundation.
“The proximity of Ceuta and Melilla to Andalucia, however, coupled with the ‘Maghreb-Andalucia’ clandestine immigration pipeline, increases the risk of terrorist infiltration,” the report states.
Experts Warn of Islamist Encroachment
Ceuta has over 35,000 Muslim inhabitants, around out of a registered population of 86,000. Most of the city’s foreign population, which accounts for 6 percent of the total, is of Moroccan origin. Ceutan Muslims are recent arrivals or trace their ancestry to Moroccans who joined Spain’s colonial army.
The Union of Islamic Communities of Ceuta (UCIDCE) controls 36 out of 40 Islamic associations in the region. It has been accused of links to the hardline Tablighi Jamaat sect, banned by numerous Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, as well as to al-Adlwal-Ihsan (AWI) or Justice and Charity, Morocco’s largest Islamist movement.
“The Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are known for their AWI bases, which facilitate communication between Moroccan and Spanish AWI supporters,” a report by the Washington Institute titled al-Adlwal-Ihsan: Inside Morocco’s Islamist Challenge warned. It noted that AWI also “shares the Spanish stage with other Islamist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb al-Tahrir.”
“The profile of Melilla, Ceuta and Andalucia, as ‘hosts’ to Islamist terrorist activities, demonstrates the degree to which various terrorist groups have penetrated mainstream Spanish cities and populations,” the Jamestown report concluded. The “first Spanish Taliban,” Hamed Abderrahaman Ahmed, was from Ceuta. He spent two years at Guantanamo Bay on suspicions of being an “enemy combatant” allied to al-Qaeda.
The Interior Ministry earlier investigated mosques sponsored by Morocco and reported its findings in a special intelligence report. It found that the Moroccan Ministry of Islamic Affairs office in Tetuan, Ceuta pays the salaries of the imams and that these community leaders owe their loyalty to the Moroccan king, whom they recognize as the most senior religious authority.
In 2015, police arrested four jihadis in Ceuta who were preparing to launch a “Charlie Hebdo” style terrorist attack. “There are two pairs of very radicalized brothers who are highly trained militarily, physically and mentally and are prepared to carry out an attack, and ready, according to police, to blow themselves up in the act,” former Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said.
Links Between Jihadis and Migrant Infiltration
Several reports have established key links between jihadi organizations and migrant movements into Europe.
The Counter Terrorism Centre of Excellence’s 2022 report states that Islamic State may have generated significant funding in 2015 by taxing human traffickers smuggling migrants through the Middle East and Northern Africa into Europe.
In the Sahel and Northern Africa, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Jama’a Nusrat Ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin reportedly profited by taxing migrant traffickers for vehicles and safe houses.
A 2019 INTERPOL Operation on criminal mobility identified 827 individuals at air and land border points, including individuals linked to terrorism. In Kenya, Al-Shabaab attacks in the country have been attributed to the presence of Somali refugees.
Non-state armed groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, jihadist groups in Mali and diverse militias in Libya all benefit from migrant smuggling, a report by Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends noted.
