“The information made available by the General Directorate for National Territorial Surveillance (DGST) to the Belgian security and judicial authorities allowed the arrest of the respondent, who was active in the name of Abdellah Al-Beljiki”, a said a press release from the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ).
The suspect was “detained by Belgian justice for the purposes of the investigation carried out in the context of cases of terrorism and violent extremism”, adds the BCIJ.
This case is linked to the arrest on Wednesday in southern Morocco of a Moroccan “extremist” affiliated with the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS), suspected of fomenting bomb attacks. The 27-year-old suspected member of IS was responsible for recruiting executors for this “terrorist plan with cross-border ramifications” on Moroccan territory.
The individual arrested in Belgium transferred money in euros to the “suspect arrested in Morocco, at the beginning of March, as a first advance in the context of progressive financing operations for the acquisition of compounds and products chemicals used in the preparation and manufacture of explosives”, details the press release from the BCIJ.
In addition, the Belgian suspect is involved in “inciting the creation of a local terrorist organization to carry out subversive operations in Morocco”.
Since 2002, Moroccan police have dismantled more than 2,000 terrorist cells and arrested more than 3,500 people in cases related to “terrorism”, according to the authorities.