ISSUE NO. 1607
21 - 27 April 2016
Stop Press
MALLORCA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
DON’T MISS OUR BOATS SPECIAL INSIDE! PAGES 50 - 53
Trojan horse By Matthew Elliott Mallorca unwittingly added its name to an ever growing list of places touched by the spectre of terrorism, but took the news with characteristic resilience. Local residents shouted defiantly at a 26-year-old Moroccan man, demanding that he show his face as he was led away from his Palma home by balaclava wearing police officers. Described by the Spanish interior ministry as a ‘clear threat to national security,’ the man is suspected of being a recruiter for Daesh, the Syria based terrorist organisation responsible for the murderous attacks in Paris and Brussels. The April 19 police raid on the man’s flat in the city’s Son Gotleu district saw 15 armed officers quickly and professionally escort the man from the premises, and remove several cardboard boxes containing computer
equipment for further examination. The as yet unnamed suspect is scheduled to appear before a court via a video link to his police cell later today April 21, and more details are sure to emerge in the near future. If the intelligence community’s suspicions that the man is in communication with Daesh militants in Syria are confirmed, it will pose a se-
vere challenge to security services, who are already working on the assumption that attacks are planned in Spain this summer. The chief threat posed by Daesh lies in its ability to both conduct and inspire terrorist attacks by sending militants across borders, while training future fighters and vulnerable outcasts online.
Following last year ’s bleak slaughter of primarily British tourists at a Tunisian beach resort, the horrors inflicted on Paris and Brussels, and mounting reports of Daesh plots to target holidaymakers in Spain, the people of Mallorca can expect summer and security to go hand in hand.
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM