Spain's National Police have arrested three potential terror suspects in a raid early Wednesday morning, just two days prior to the World Pride 2017 event to be hosted in Madrid. It is expected the event will attract around two million visitors to the city.

Three Moroccan terror suspects arrested in Madrid shortly before World Pride 2017

The Spanish Interior Ministry said in a news release Wednesday that one of the detained terror suspects, a 32-year-old Moroccan man, is considered to be highly dangerous and is a radicalized individual with strong ties to Islamic State (ISIS).

The Moroccan had in his possession a large range of terror-related materials, including manuals on how to carry out jihadist attacks as well as aspects of religion. Among the seized material were manuals teaching potential jihadists how to become a suicide bomber.

While police are still investigating the various documents, they cover subjects such as “acts of martyrdom” and “ideological prepping.” Another manual gave details on how to perform an electronic jihad.

Terror suspects in training in Madrid

According to a report by The Local, the other two suspects were sharing an apartment with the Moroccan man and were reportedly being trained by the main suspect to join ISIS and commit violent jihadist acts in Spain.

The men were 33 and 38 years of age and were also Moroccan nationals.

Tweet translation: "Three detainees in Madrid, one of them integrated into DAESH (had suicide bomber handbooks) and two others who were radicalizing."

Jihadist's profile similar to other terrorists

According to the news release, the Moroccan man’s profile is similar to those of terrorists who have recently launched terror attacks in France and Britain.

The Ministry considers the man to be a “clear threat to security” in the country. Spanish police discovered various indicators on social media linking the main suspect to ISIS members in the Iraqi and Syrian combat zones in their currently ongoing investigations.

Tweet translation: "If you detect a case of radicalization in your environment, do not wait until it is too late.

Together we can stop this."

Terror suspects arrested since 2015

As reported by El Pais, the Ministry of the Interior said in their statement that Spain’s terror threat level has been on level four (with level five being the highest) since June 26, 2015, following terror attacks in Tunisia, France, and Kuwait. From that date, Spanish security forces have arrested 172 jihadists in Spain and overseas. Since January 2015 a total of 217 terror suspects has been taken into custody.

Madrid has recently boosted the city’s security measures ahead of the various events to be held during World Pride 2017, set to run from June 23 to July 2.
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