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Spain is among a number of European countries struggling to
stop the radicalization of young Muslim citizens and deter them
from becoming jihadists in Syria or Iraq, fearing they might
return to plot attacks on home soil.
Four women and a man were arrested in Barcelona and the Spanish
North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and two men were
detained in the Moroccan town of Fnideq, close to Ceuta, as part
of the operation, the ministry said in a statement.
It said the seven were accused of forming a network to find,
recruit and send women to Syria and Iraq on behalf of Islamic
State. A ministry spokeswoman could not say whether any of the
affected women were being recruited specifically to fight for
the ultra-radical jihadist movement, which has seized large
expanses of Iraq and Syria and drawn U.S.-led air strikes.
In the past, some women with European passports have been drawn
to the side of Islamic State to join its ranks in the Syrian and
Iraqi conflicts or to become wives of militants.
In September, Spanish police arrested nine people suspected of
belonging to a militant cell linked to Islamic State in Melilla,
on the northern coast of Africa.
Denmark said on Friday it faced a "significant" threat from
radicalized Muslim citizens returning home from Syria and Iraq
where at least 110 people had gone to fight with jihadist groups
like Islamic State.
(Reporting by Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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