‘Dangerous’ Suspected Moroccan Jihadist Disappears In Spain After Removing His Electronic Tagging Device

A man accused of jihadism and considered by the authorities to be dangerous has disappeared in Spain and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

According to anti-terrorist sources of larazon.es, Allal el Mourabit Ahammarb managed to remove the electronic tagging device that he had been fitted with and left in the Salburúa park in Vitoria.

The bracelet was subsequently found by police officers after an operation had been initiated to locate it. As explained by the same sources, these tagging devices do not presuppose permanent monitoring of the individual carrying them.

What they do presuppose is to control that he/she never goes beyond certain territorial limits or approaches people and, as seems to be apparent in this case, call centres with which he/she can connect via telematic means.

This individual’s ultimate aspiration was to join DAESH (Isis or Islamic State) or, alternatively, to commit suicide explained the same sources.

The investigators underlined the fact that he had often worked as a lorry driver and recalled the massacres committed with this type of vehicle in Nice and Berlin.

The Moroccan man was arrested on three occasions

During their tracking and arrests, the Guardia Civil’s Information Service (SIGC) was rarely confronted with a similar case. They were aware through their investigations that they were dealing with a potentially dangerous individual linked to jihadism, who was also driving a heavy lorry in Spain and abroad.

They had to detain him on three previous occasions. On the eve of his last arrest, Ahammarb had defiantly posted a video online in which he implied that he knew he was going to be arrested again.

He guessed this because the head of his company – who had kept him in his job during his periods of freedom – had asked him to return urgently to their base with only the tractor-trailer.

Grasping this opportunity, he lashed out at Spanish society and the State Security Forces to insist that he was an innocent man who had been unjustly persecuted.

He was first arrested in November 2016

His first arrest took place in Irún in November 2016. The Guardia Civil arrested him when he was returning with his vehicle from Germany.

It was already known that he had contacts with DAESH members in Syria. He was imprisoned but did not remain in prison for long on that occasion.

In July 2019, the SIGC officers had to arrest him again, this time in Pamplona, given that he had continued his work in the jihadist world with a more radicalised profile.

Ahammarb travelled to Turkey in an effort to join DAESH

On two occasions, in 2014 and 2016, Ahammarb attempted to join DAESH. To do so, he travelled to Turkey, according to anti-terrorist sources.

The 48-year-old Moroccan was involved in managing several profiles and social media channels, with a fixation on justifying suicide attacks as a legitimate means of fighting the West. It was not revealed how he came to be at large fitted with the electronic tag.