5 jihadi suspects arrested in Spain, Belgium, Germany

MADRID (AP) – Police in Spain, Belgium and Germany on Wednesday arrested five people suspected of forming a cell that spread propaganda and sought to recruit militants for the Islamic State armed group, officials said.

The Spanish Interior Ministry said the cell, made up of four Spaniards and one Moroccan, posed “a grave, concrete and continued threat to security in Europe.”

A ministry statement said the five worked for the Islamic State group by spreading information on several internet sites, among them a Facebook page called “Islam en Espanol” (Islam in Spanish). The site, allegedly managed by two suspects arrested in Belgium and Germany, had 32,500 followers and was growing rapidly, the ministry added.

The statement said one suspect was arrested in Brussels and another in Wuppertal, Germany. Two arrests took place in the northeastern Spanish city of Barcelona and one in the north African Spanish enclave city of Melilla.

The ministry said the group praised and encouraged IS attacks and sought recruits. The ministry said the cell directed its activities toward young Muslims of northwest African background.

The ministry said 113 suspected pro-jihad activists have been arrested in Spain since 2015 while Spanish police had helped arrest 30 more in other countries.