The Spanish Civil Guard managed to get their hands on four Moroccan minors, aged 14 to 17, who were preparing to carry out a terrorist operation against the Santa Maria church in Elche, a city in the Alicante region.
Daily life Al Akhbar reports, in its edition of Friday January 3, that it was the Moroccan security forces, as part of their cooperation with the Spanish security forces, who provided the information which made it possible to avoid a bloodbath. The four minors, all natives of Morocco, were arrested separately. One of them was picked from the very high school where he was continuing his studies. This group wanted to take advantage of the large crowds in churches during the end-of-year celebrations to cause as many victims as possible.
Investigations carried out following these arrests revealed that the Santa Maria church was not the only target targeted by this group of suspected terrorists, who planned to carry out actions on the Mediterranean coast of the city of Elche.
The judge from the anti-terrorism unit of the National Court (Spanish court), at the request of the Attorney General, ordered the placement of the four minors in an ad hoc center in Madrid, for terrorist crimes, while taking into consideration their young age.
According to Spanish law, these suspected terrorists face a sentence of five years in prison in total isolation, in addition to an additional three years in a rehabilitation center after their release. The 17-year-old faces a prison sentence of up to eight years.
Al Akhbar concludes that the growing involvement of minors in terrorist acts constitutes a real challenge for Spanish justice, obliged, in consideration of the age of these young delinquents, to apply very reduced sentences to them, out of proportion to the barbaric acts that ‘they commit or attempt to commit.
