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| Europe |
| GSPC turned to crime to finance jihad in Spain |
| 2005-12-23 |
| They work in the dark, always after midnight. They wear dark clothes and move very quietly, using the age-old techniques of the cat burglar rather than the more violent methods of other gangs on the Costa del Sol. They are presumed members of the so-called Jihadi Salaphist terrorist group, and the recent capture of the cell by the Guardia Civil has thrown some light on their modus operandi and on their links with Al Qaeda. According to the imprisonment order by the National Criminal Court judge Félix Degayón, by which three of the seven members of the gang arrested last week on the Costa del Sol were remanded in prison, the gang had been involved in robbing houses while their owners slept inside, stealing small items of value that they could easily sell on afterwards. Police investigations show that this money was used to help finance the Jihadi Salaphist Group. There were many similarities between the various robberies perpetrated on the Costa del Sol and in the province of Cadiz, the police believe. Only objects of value that could be easily transported were stolen, these being mainly money, watches, jewels, cameras and the like. Even the most expensive television sets, music equipment and paintings were left behind, although in some cases, they stole luxury cars as well. The Guardia Civil investigations reveal that the group operated as a unit in specific areas, concentrating on a single area, or in many cases, a single street, arriving and leaving on foot. They entered the houses in pairs, dressed in dark clothes, and the few times they were surprised by the owners, they communicated to each other in Arabic. The recently issued imprisonment order links the three men with two robberies committed on the Costa del Sol this year. They both took place at the beginning of January, in two houses in Mijas. In the first robbery, in which the target was a large house in the Valtocado residential development, the gang got away with 100,000, while in the other, in which a house in the Rancho de la Luz residential development was robbed, they stole only 250 pounds sterling. The thieves themselves sold the items stolen, and at the time of their arrest, they were carrying just enough money for living on from day to day, the rest, presumably, going to the Jihadi Salaphist terrorist group. This supports the theory that the gang was working for a larger terrorist organisation. The Spanish police believe that the Emir Abdelmalek Droukdel, known as Abou Moussab Abdelouadoud, is the leader of the Jihadi Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which has direct links to Al Qaeda. The Jihadi Salafist Group, the imprisonment order says, is led by the Emir and operates in nine areas. It carried out its bloodiest activities in the Boumerdés region, in the north of Algeria. The police tell us that the group has a large financial network abroad, based on criminal activities such as drug trafficking, robbery and credit card swindling. These crimes are committed by support cells all over Europe, and most of the money finds its way back to Algeria, as was the case of the Costa del Sol robbers. The identities of the three Algerians detained by the police last week have been given to the press by the police as F. A., alias ‘El PakistanÃÂ’; F. M., ‘Moh’ and A. Y., ‘Kader’. According to the judge in charge of the case, evidence exists to suggest that they could be members of one of these terrorist support cells, while their involvement in the house robbers earlier this year is fairly certain. Judge Félix Degayón granted bail of 3,000 euros to a fourth Algerian, identified by the initials A. B., and decided to bring charges against three other members of the group who were arrested. One is an Algerian woman, another a Spanish woman and the third a man from the Albania-Kosovo region. Those arrested, all staying in the Marbella, Estepona, Torremolinos, Malaga and Benalmádena areas, deny that they have anything to do with the Jihadi Saphist Group, and claim they have no idea where the jewels and money found in their possession came from. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |