Spanish Police arrested notorious jihadist Mustafa Maya Amaya as part of the operation against jihadist terrorism in Melilla.

Known as “El Taliban”, the arrested person was already convicted in 2018 by the National Court.

📢 Detenido en Melilla Mustafá Maya Amaya "el Talibán", el mayor reclutador de yihadistas europeo. Tenía un campamento en la ciudad de Melilla, donde entrenaba a los jóvenes terroristas, a los cuales mandaba a Libia y otras zonas de conflicto para hacer la yihad. pic.twitter.com/aqPtSqaoaO

— Empresario VOX 🇪🇸🇮🇱 (@EmpresarioVox) October 23, 2023

The police believed that the Spanish of Belgian-Roma origin was the top jihadist recruiter, recruiting fighters for both IS and al-Qaeda at least since 2012.

The prisoner was sentenced to 8 years in prison rather than to 14 years as was requested by the Prosecutor’s Office, because his sentence was reduced with his confession. The police operation, which is still ongoing, comes amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

In their order, the judges described Amaya as the director and coordinator of one of the largest networks recruiting and sending radicals to join jihadist terrorist organizations.

The accused, wheelchair-bound, was in constant communication with other European Muslims whom he recruited online to travel to countries such as Syria, Libya, or Mali and was acting in concert with other persons to achieve his goal.

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