RABAT: Moroccan police said Wednesday they had broken up a cell linked to the Daesh group in the port city of Tangiers, arresting five people suspected of planning cross-border attacks.
The suspects were planning “to carry out remote-controlled explosions targeting security installations and personalities, as well as public buildings hosting Moroccan and foreign citizens,” said the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ).
The five, aged 22-28, had raised funds and “acquired several products used in the production of homemade bombs,” it added, in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency.
Security forces seized “bottles containing nitric acid and other suspect liquids as well as nails, electric wires and six gas cylinders” which could be used for bomb-making, it added.
They also found knives, military-style uniforms, a Daesh flag and portraits of its chief in the Greater Sahara, Adnan Abu Walid Al-Sahrawi, reported killed by French forces in mid-September.
“The emir of the terrorist cell had made several contacts with high-ranking leaders of Daesh in the Sahel-Sahara region,” the statement added.
The announcement came weeks after Morocco said it had arrested three members of a Daesh-linked cell in the country’s south, followed by four more members days later.
They were accused of plotting attacks and assassinations.
Since 2002, Moroccan security services have dismantled more than 2,000 extremist cells and made over 3,500 arrests linked to terrorism, according to BCIJ figures published in February.
The country has largely been spared jihadist attacks since 2003, when five suicide attacks killed 33 people and wounded scores more in the economic capital, Casablanca.
But in 2018, two Scandinavian tourists were murdered by Daesh-linked militants during a hiking trip in the High Atlas mountains.
Morocco breaks up Daesh-linked cell, arrests 5
https://arab.news/v8quf
Morocco breaks up Daesh-linked cell, arrests 5
- Five suspects, aged 22-28, had raised funds and "acquired several products used in the production of homemade bombs"
- The emir of the terrorist cell had made several contacts with high-ranking leaders of Daesh in the Sahel-Sahara region
Syrian authorities bust smuggling ring, tighten border controls
- Smugglers' boat collides with rocks as it attempted to flee pursuing as Coast Guard vessels
- The boat was about to illegally transport passengers from the Syrian coast of Tartus coast to Cyprus
DAMASCUS: Syrian Coast Guard forces have arrested members of a human smuggling network operating in the western town of Tartus, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported Saturday.
Authorities pounced on the smugglers as they were about to transport passengers from the Tartus coast to Cyprus by illegal means, the state media said, citing a statement from the General Authority of Ports and Customs.
"The operation resulted in the arrest of all those involved, including the organizers of the trip," said the report, adding that the smugglers' boat attempted to escape as Coast Guard vessels surrounded it, but collided with rocks.
No details were made available on how many suspects were arrested and how many passengers were rescued. Criminal charges are being prepared against the arrested suspects, SANA said.
New restrictions on commercial transit
In a separate move to regulate trade and border security, the ports and customs authority has issued a new policy restricting truck access at land crossings and seaports.
Commercial trucks will now only be permitted entry for loading or unloading upon presentation of an original receipt from the Ministry of Transport’s freight office.
The transfer of cargo between Syrian and non-Syrian vehicles must now take place strictly within designated customs yards at border crossings.
Trucks passing through Syria in transit remain permitted, provided they are under a mandatory customs escort between entry and exit points.
