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Rabat – Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) announced on Monday that its security services had thwarted several highly dangerous terrorist plots that were in advanced stages of preparation.
BCIJ said that it conducted the operation after receiving intelligence provided by the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST).
The operation enabled Morocco’s BCIJ officers to arrest 10 suspected ISIS-affiliated extremists during coordinated security operations across multiple cities, including Agadir, Taroudant, Casablanca, El Hajeb, Tetouan, Fquih Ben Salah, and Safi.
“These operations followed extensive surveillance and intelligence-gathering efforts conducted by field officers responsible for collecting and analyzing information on the terrorist cell,” BCIJ said in a statement.
The arrested suspects planned attacks targeting the safety of people and property and were receiving logistical coordination and operational support from ISIS operatives in the Sahel.
BCIJ also carried out searches of the suspects’ homes after completing legal procedures, seizing different equipment allegedly intended for use in carrying out terrorist attacks.
The seized items included bladed weapons, military uniforms, and extremist manuscripts containing detailed instructions on how to assemble explosive devices.
Police also seized digital devices, as well as two recordings containing pledges of allegiance to ISIS and explicit threats to carry out acts of sabotage in the country.
Authorities also searched a warehouse in the city of Inezgane, where they found a four-wheel-drive vehicle whose fuel tank had been modified to operate on butane gas.
The vehicle was intended to be used in a terrorist attack, either as a suicide bombing or a vehicle-ramming attack against sensitive targets and facilities, BCIJ added.
Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security deployed a specialized explosives unit to conduct a thorough examination of the vehicle using remotely operated robots and advanced detection equipment to assess the level of risk.
BCIJ also found several butane gas cylinders and pressure cookers, some filled with nails and others connected to electrical wiring.
BCIJ units also seized welding equipment, electrical circuit breakers, small light bulbs, and other chemical substances.
The suspects were receiving instructions from alleged senior ISIS operatives in the Sahel after they pledged allegiance to the terrorist group’s leader.
Instructions from the terrorist group’s operatives urged them to remain in Morocco to “carry out the group’s terrorist agenda while postponing plans to travel to ISIS strongholds outside the country.”
The leader of the cell assigned specific roles to its members, with some tasked with selecting targets while others were assigned to conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, and monitoring operations.
Police placed the adult suspects in custody, while one minor was placed under judicial supervision. Investigations aim to further examine their links to ISIS’s African branch in the Sahel and determine the potential national and international extensions of the terrorist network.
