SIX terrorist suspects have been arrested in the UK, Palma de Mallorca and Germany as part of the same operation this morning (Wednesday).
The interior ministry says the group were well-connected and responsible for creating and distributing 'exceptionally radical audio-visual material' as well as organising clandestine meetings every week.
They arranged for young recruits to the DAESH cause to travel to Syria and Iraq for training in Jihad combat.
The suspects are said to have publicly supported and promoted suicide bombings and other violent actions such as those reported in the last two years in France, Belgium and the UK.
Investigations started long before the Paris attacks in 2015 when a website was uncovered showing a young Muslim resident in Spain having been 'radicalised', recruited and sent to Syria.
An extremist who had slipped through the net and managed to practise as an Iman was caught in the UK.
The accused had travelled several times to Palma de Mallorca where he started to set up a group dedicated to luring vulnerable youngsters to join the soi-disant 'Islamic State'.
His rhetoric was well-known to police and Intelligence services across Europe, but his constant changes of residence and identity and his watertight security measures taken made it difficult to stay on his trail.
Another radical Iman was caught in Germany, and found to be in close communications with the man arrested in Britain and with four others based in Palma.
The six are described as 'very extremist', as well as 'totally committed' to the DAESH cause.
Intelligence services believe they were planning attacks in Britain, Germany and Spain.
National Police and Spain's National Intelligence Centre (CNI) worked alongside London Metropolitan Police and the CTU West Midlands in Birmingham, plus the BKA Federal Police and LKA North Westphalia squad in Germany.
The operation remains active and further arrests have not been ruled out.
Since Spain upped its terror alert level to 4 – the highest being 5 – on June 26, 2015, a total of 178 Jihad terrorists have been arrested on national territory and abroad.
In two-and-a-half years, a total of 223 terror suspects have been taken into custody by Spanish police.
