IS recruiters arrested in prison

SPANISH police have arrested three men in prisons alleged to be recruiting and radicalising inmates to terrorist organisation Islamic State.

The trio operated behind the walls of a Murcia prison and are alleged to have formed a criminal group aimed at getting people to join the ‘jihadist’ movement.

According to the National Police and Guardia Civil, they used ‘coercion and violence’ against fellow prisoners scheduled for release to carry out acts of terrorism in Spain and abroad.

The group’s leader, who was arrested after being transferred to a jail in Zaragoza is serving a sentence imposed for a sexual assault but was also being watched after being identified as a person of promoting extremist views amongst the prison population.

His lieutenants, are both still serving sentences in Murcia. One was jailed for offences including homicide, robbery with violence and drug trafficking, the second is serving sentences for fraud and burglary.

In October 2018, 25 prisoners were arrested across 17 jails for recruiting and radicalising inmates. The operation was labelled the IS ‘prison front’.