Barcelona attack suspect tells court that cell planned bigger attack with explosives - UPDATE

RT
Tue, 22 Aug 2017 15:59 UTC

© AFP

(From L) Mohamed Houli Chemlal, Driss Oukabir, Salah El Karib, and Mohamed Aallaa, suspected of involvement in the terror cell that carried out twin attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, escorded by Spanish Civil Guards from a detention center in Tres Cantos, near Madrid, on August 22, 2017.

A suspected member of the terrorist cell which carried out attacks in Catalonia said the group planned a bigger attack with explosives, Spanish media report. The testimony comes as four alleged group members appear at the high court in Madrid.

The testimony came from Mohamed Houli Chemlal, who was first to testify. The alleged terrorist group member didn't specify the target for the larger attack initially plotted by the group, EL Pais reports, citing unnamed judicial sources.

However, a conflicting report by El Mundo claims that Chemlal provided details of an initial plot. He reportedly told the judge the group was going to attack major Barcelona monuments, including the Sagrada Familia cathedral, confirming a previous statement he gave to Catalan police.

Chemlal appeared in court with three other surviving suspects on Tuesday. The four are believed to be members of the group responsible for the Thursday carnage at tourist hotspot Las Ramblas in Barcelona, which left 13 people dead and scores injured, as well as the Cambrils attack that followed hours later, in which a woman was stabbed to death.

While the five assailants of the attack in Cambrils were shot by police in a standoff, two other suspected cell members, including the possible mastermind of both assaults, imam Abdelbaki Es Satty, died earlier in an accidental blast in a house in Alcanar. There, police found 120 butane canisters believed to be used in bomb manufacturing.

The last suspect, 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub, was shot and killed by police the day before the first hearing. The manhunt came to an end in Subirats, west of Barcelona, after officers received a tip-off on a suspicious man wearing an explosive belt. Abouyaaqoub is believed to have driven a rented van into pedestrians in Barcelona before escaping on foot.

As Chemlal, Driss Oukabir, Mohamed Aallaa and Salh El Karib gave their statements on the double attacks at the court, a Spanish prosecutor reportedly requested that the judge detain the four without bail, according to EL Pais.

Two of the suspects told the court that imam Abdelbaki Es Satty was the instigator, Spanish media reported, adding that the public prosecutor had asked the judge to send all four to jail while investigations continued.

The four may face jail terms on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization, murder and possession of explosives, El Pais reported, citing the prosecution.

Comment: Previous coverage of the Barcelona attacks: Van Mows Down People on Barcelona's Ramblas: 13 confirmed dead,dozens injured - UPDATES

Update (Aug. 23)

Two suspects have been sent to jail without bail (Mohamed Houli Chemlal, 21, and Driss Oukabir, 28), and one released on special conditions (Mohamed Aalla) due to lack of sufficient evidence. The fourth, Sahl El Karib, will remain under arrest for another 3 days.

The imam who died in the explosion, Es Satty, was judged "no real threat" in 2015 after serving his sentence for drug trafficking in 2014. (This despite the fact that he was ordered to leave Spain in 2014.)

Two members of that cell called Es Satty the key organizer of the plot, as the four surviving suspects gave statements at the high court in Madrid on Tuesday.

Although Es Satty's role is yet to be defined, Catalan police chief Joseph Lluis Trapero indicated that investigators are working on a hypothesis that the imam radicalized the group's members, La voz de Galicia reports. Earlier, however, a police spokesperson said they "can't compromise evidence or leads, or give unreliable information" concerning Es Satty.
...
According to Spanish media, during his time at the Castellon prison, Es Satty made contact with Rachid Aglif, one of the jihadists behind the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Shortly after being released from prison, Es Satty was ordered by the local authorities to leave Spain and was banned entry for five years, based on the Aliens Act, which allows the deportation of foreigners charged with willful misconduct and who are serving custodial sentences of more than a year.

Es Satty's lawyer appealed the decree, however, stating it would infringe the defendant's international rights. The judge, Pablo de la Rubia, sided with the appeal and ruled that the Moroccan was no danger and showed "efforts of integrating into Spanish society," despite being charged with a serious offense, El Mundo reports.
...
In 2016, the Belgian authorities requested information from the Spanish security forces on whether Es Satty had links with Islamist terrorism after suspicions emerged during his stay in the Belgian city of Vilvoorde that year, El Pais reports, citing the city's mayor, Hans Bonte.

The head of Vilvoorde's mosque voiced his concerns after Es Satty "turned up unannounced and said he wanted to be an imam because he had no future in Spain," Bonte says.

According to the official, the Spanish authorities replied that there was no indication of Es Satty being engaged in radical Islam. Both Belgian and Spanish authorities refused to comment to El Pais, only saying that the imam's background wasn't suspicious and they don't normally share sensitive intelligence.

Es Satty is also believed to have traveled to France on several occasions to take "courses" on bomb-making, La Razon reports.

21st Century Wire adds this:

It is claimed that [Es Satty] was radicalized while serving time in prison for smuggling hashish, as during his prison term he met Rachid Aglif, who is serving an 18-year term for his role in the 2004 Madrid train bombings. However, some may find this explanation lacking as it is also being reported that Es Satty lived with Mohammed Fahsi between 2003 and 2005, shortly before Fahsi was accused of being an al-Qaeda recruiter and jailed for funding terrorism.