The arrest and death of the authors of the massacre of Barcelona and Cambrils was only the starting point of the investigation into the attacks. The Autonomous police, the Civil Guard and the Police investigated thoroughly, with judicial authorization, to more than 40 people to the suspicion that knew the plans of the terrorists or helped them to implement them. Among them there are relatives of the young people of Ripoll, friends of the imam Abdelbaki Is Satty —brain-attacks— and other individuals related to the terrorist before or after the August 17, 2017.
in order not To leave loose ends, the researchers asked tap telephones and track the life of some of the family members of the cell of Ripoll. Fatima A. spoke with a friend over WhatsApp on the 17th of August, after the jostling mass in The Rambla perpetrated by Younes Abouyaaqoub but before the attack on the promenade of Cambrils. “Omar (Hichamy) I was scared. The way out of the house was not normal. I have a suspicion. I say that they are, their ways lately, I didn’t like,” wrote Fatima. Weeks later, he commented on what happened with your husband. “Not have killed. Have been victims of the Government and have come out the other plans.” A conversation that, according to the Mossos d’esquadra, “it can’t be more enlightening to understand how they think some members of the family environment of the terrorists.”
Aziz O. is the brother of two of the terrorists of Barcelona —one detained and another killed in Cambrils— and acquired the status of investigated when the Civil Guard noted that he kept open a profile suspect in Facebook. There showed a Kalashnikov next to a Quran and other images “in war-religious, next to the radical jihadist”. As Aziz was agent forest in Tarragona, the researchers suspect that he was able to lead the terrorists to the house squatter house in Alcanar, where accumulated the explosive material for a bomb in Barcelona.
The mosque of Ripoll, under suspicion
The islamic community Annour of Ripoll, where he worked Abdelbaki Is Satty as a magnet, has also been in the spotlight. Hammou M., secretary, and hired him to lead the prayer when he came from Belgium. According to the analysis of the Mossos, they maintained “regular contact” with “virtually all members of the cell” despite the fact that he said in his statement he only knew three of them. I called Younes Abouyaaqoub, author of the outrage, from “four different phones”. And he did it for the last time on the night of August 17, when Younes was already fled. It was also investigated the spokesperson of Annour, Hamid B. A footprint of yours appeared between a manual of instructions to install the wifi signal in the house Alcanar.
the explosion of Alcanar died, among others, Is Satty, that in August he made 148 calls to members of the cell. His role as mastermind of the attacks, and indoctrinating the young people of Ripoll, who ended Piabet up running a massacre improvised makes him a central character. And becomes suspicious of the first order, also, to those who had dealings with him. As Bennaceur A., with whom he shared a cell when he was in prison for drug trafficking in Castellón. The Guardia Civil noted that, in the remains of the house Alcanar, they found fingerprints of Bennaceur in a dictionary Arabic-Spanish. The traces do not give to much more: it works sometimes only temporary, is in an irregular situation.
The remains of Alcanar have generated several suspects. The rubble appeared a reminder of a medical appointment of Sidj A., “indicates his alleged relationship with one of the members of the cell”, according to the researchers. To Jaouad E. —who posted a photo with Mohamed Houli, a survivor of the explosion— located in Alcanar and attributed to a “direct involvement and unequivocally” in a few attacks, they suspect, “I knew”.
The magnet, the center of the searches
he was Also companion of the magnet, though not of cell but floor, Noureddine E. he discovers the Civil Guard, which gives your floor to new arrivals in Spain to obtain the registration in exchange for money. Other people are suspicious by their contradictions. Mohamed B., a butcher in Sant Carles de la Ràpita, told the police that he neither knew nor had ever seen the boys of Ripoll or the magnet Is Satty while several witnesses stated flatly to the contrary.
Another of those investigated, Adrian F. (nickname Rachid) is a man who converted to islam —and radicalised— by the hand of Is Satty when he passed by the mosque of Castellón. Adrian kept contact with the magnet until July 2017. The Civil Guard found that, after the attacks, came frequently to chat on “proselytizing salafist” in the Telegram. Two protected witnesses have stressed to the police the role of Maki N., alias Sudaní, by his relationship with Is Satty. After the attacks, Sudaní said that the magnet had “nothing to do with what happened”.
The friends and acquaintances of the cell Ripoll have also been in the spotlight. The agents detected, for example, that Mohamed A., trainee of mechanical and excompañero work of Younes Abouyaaqoub, shows “behavior changes” that invite us to think that it is the “process of radicalisation”. Mohamed B was identified in July in a car with registration French alongside Driss Oukabir. On the 14th of August, three days before the attacks, stayed at The hotel la Trobada de Ripoll. The contact phone number that you gave there is the same that Mohamed Hichamy, one of the terrorists, gave the company Ruzafa to rent one of the vans.
