Daily Times

Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan man suspected of cooperating with a cell behind attacks that killed 16 people in Barcelona and another seaside resort last month, the interior ministry said Friday.

The 24-year-old man, who was detained in the eastern town of Castellon, was close to several members of the group, especially Abdelbaki Es Satty, a Moroccan imam believed to have radicalised the youths that carried out the attacks, it said in a statement. He is believed to have helped the cell obtain the ingredients they used to make over 100 kilos (220 pounds) of the explosive TATP and provided them with vehicles to transport it. “Various members of the cell counted on the help of the suspect, who at the very least, provided his personal identification documents which they used to buy hydrogen peroxide, a key ingredient to make TATP,” it said. “In addition, he provided the terrorists with methods of transportation used to move part of the explosives.”

TATP has become the explosive of choice for the Islamic State (IS) group as it can easily be made from ingredients such as acetone and oxygenated water that are readily available in high street stores.

Published in Daily Times, September 23^rd 2017.