The Moroccan authorities have arrested in Casablanca, a new member of the recently busted terrorist cell in Casablanca and in Boujniba, 150 kilometres southeast of Casablanca, involved in the recruitment of Moroccan fighters for the Islamic State (IS) Organisation in Syria and Iraq, the Interior Ministry says.
Investigations led by the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), an offshoot of Morocco’s domestic intelligence agency (DGST), found that the suspect is involved in terrorist activities of the IS-related cell which was dismantled on May 19, the Ministry said in a statement here Tuesday.
Investigations also showed that the terrorist cell was plotting dangerous criminal schemes, including the establishment of a rear base in mountainous regions from which they planned to launch their terrorist operations in the Kingdom, the statement added.
The arrested members of the cell, who did not succeed in joining the camps of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in northern Mali in 2011, plotted to carry out attacks against military barracks, police and gendarmerie stations as well as other security forces in order to seize weapons and use them later in criminal schemes, the statement said.
The ten-members of the terrorist cell maintained close links with Moroccan fighters in the IS organization with whom they were plotting to create dormant cells in the Kingdom.
With financial and logistical support from IS leaders, these dormant cells were intended to be reinforced by Moroccan fighters who received military training in IS camps with the aim to perpetrate terrorist attacks on key Moroccan facilities.
The arrested members of the cell will be brought before justice upon completion of investigations under the supervision of the General Prosecutor.
