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IS-linked Italian arrested in Morocco for plotting terrorist attack

Xinhua, June 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Moroccan authorities said on Monday they arrested an Islamic State (IS)-linked Italian national on suspicion of plotting attacks in Morocco

The suspect, who was arrested at the airport of the Eastern city of Oujda, was planning a dangerous terrorist plot against sensitive sites in Morocco, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Upon orders from IS leaders, the Italian national, who was ordinarily resident in Belgium, came to Morocco in June 2015, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the initial investigation, the arrested man scouted out a sensitive target site in the Moroccan commercial city of Casablanca.

The man, who adheres to IS ideology, tried unsuccessfully in 2014 to join the camps of this terrorist organization in Syria and Iraq before returning to Belgium, the statement added.

Morocco is facing a growing threat from IS group. Last Month, the director of Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation, Abdelhak El Khayam, revealed that Morocco has busted 29 terrorist cells that planned attacks against the North African kingdom in one year. Endit