Spain dismantles jihadist recruitment cell in Ceuta

The four people are accused of recruiting young jihadists using social media, Spain’s Interior Ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Police believe the three men and one woman formed a terrorist cell dedicated to “the recruitment and radicalization of young people and children into the ranks of the terrorist organization Daesh,” it said using an alternative name for the so called Islamic State.

“The cell had a well established channel of communication with Daesh fighters in Syria who instructed them in the methodology for recruiting new followers in the fight against ‘the infidel’,” the statement said.

Since Spain raised its national security threat alert in 2015 in response to gunmen attacks in Paris, police have arrested 161 people suspected of Islamist militant activity.