Arrested Catalonia jihadists planned to kidnap victim and slit their throat

The jihadist cell broken up by police in Catalonia on Wednesday was planning to kidnap someone in Spain, dress them in an orange suit of the type used by Islamic State for its executions, and make a video recording of their “interrogation” before slitting their throat.

Sources at the prosecutor’s office at the National High Court in Madrid, Spain’s central criminal tribunal, have revealed that the 11 individuals arrested across Catalonia were part of the so-called “Islamic Brotherhood for the Preaching of Jihad,” and that their chief goal was to carry out attacks in Spain.

Wiretaps revealed that the cell was in the early stages of a plan to kidnap the head of Banco Sabadell

The group had been closely watching public and private locations in Catalonia, including the regional parliament, the police precincts in Sabadell, Barcelona’s busy Plaza de España square and the city’s Hotel Catalonia. All of these places had been photographed from various angles in order to study their entry points and best escape routes.

Wiretaps conducted by the Mossos d’Esquadra Catalan regional police revealed that the cell was in the early stages of a plan to kidnap the head of Banco Sabadell and hold her for ransom to fund its activities, the same sources said.

The group had decided to take its jihad on to Spanish soil after failing in its attempt to send new combatants to Syria and Iraq. Three of the people they had recruited were arrested before reaching the combat zone.

The group leader is Antonio S.M., a Spaniard who converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim woman. He worked as a hairdresser in a low-income neighborhood in Sabadell. An underage member of the cell, who is 17, was described as being “completely involved” in its activities.