Spain arrests two men suspected of Islamist militant propaganda

Two men were arrested in Madrid on Wednesday on suspicion of spreading Islamist militant propaganda, the Interior Ministry said.

Police released video footage in connection with the arrests that showed officers uncovering gun magazines and bullets from under rocks in a disused, graffiti-sprayed building.

El Pais newspaper quoted the Interior Ministry as saying the search, in the outskirts of Madrid, uncovered four Kalashnikov AK-47 magazines and over 30 bullets.

The paper said the men were second generation Spaniards of Moroccan and Gambian origin.

Neither the Interior Ministry nor the police could confirm those details in their statement or video or when contacted for further information.

Separately, two women who travelled to Syria in 2014 from the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta were arrested in Turkey as they attempted to return to Europe, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The women travelled to Syria accompanying their Islamist militant partners in order to join Daesh, the ministry said.

The women were attempting to make the return journey with young children and the arrests were made by Turkish authorities following tip-offs from the Spanish police, the ministry said.

Spain has arrested 177 people in connection with Islamist militancy since 2015, when it raised its security alert level to 4 – the country’s second-highest level – following the gun attacks on French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.