Moroccan Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of four suspects with alleged ties to ISIS. Within the exerted efforts to monitor extremist members who have terrorist agendas, BCIJ (Central Bureau of Judiciary Investigation) reported Monday arresting four suspects affiliated with ISIS, aged between 19 and 24.
The ministry said in a statement, the suspects were acquiring skills in explosives’ manufacturing to commit terrorist acts in different Moroccan cities. During the operation, the Moroccan authorities seized “electronic weapons and documents glorifying extremist ideology of ISIS,” the statement added.
According to the statement, one of the suspects had close links with one of the individuals arrested following the dismantling of a terrorist cell last May in Morocco and Spain. This security operation affirms the continuity of terrorist threats caused by ISIS and its supporters around the world, the statement added.
Notably, Morocco endorsed a preliminary security policy since Casablanca offensives in 2003, the year when the anti-terrorism law was adopted and a court was allocated to consider terrorist causes.
The preliminary policy allows the possibility to act before a terrorist moves to the action phase.
Under this framework, BCIJ which is a subsidiary of General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, was formed and it consists of intelligence security members enjoying judiciary capacity. Since its formation in 2015, BCIJ managed to dismantle 51 terrorist groups and arrest 820 suspects and refer them to the court.
Central Bureau of Judiciary Investigation operates based on an intelligence approach in collecting and analyzing information -- it carries out arresting operations of possible terrorists to investigate them based on the judiciary capacity.
The bureau also coordinates with security authorities of friendly nations, especially those that have huge Moroccan community.
