Abdelgahan i Bentouati’

The Audiencia Nacional sentences an Islamist arrested in Madrid in 2020 to two years and six months in prison after reaching an agreement with the public prosecutor’s office.

When Guardia Civil officers stormed Abdelgahan i Bentouati’s house unexpectedly, they found all the evidence that confirmed their suspicions. The Algerian, who was born in 1989 and lives in Madrid, was already collecting materials such as cellulose and polyethylene that would allow him “to start making” explosives; he kept manuals on how to make bombs and how to “stab to ensure death”; and he had even searched the internet for an explosive belt “that could be used in a suicide bombing.” According to the national court, which sentenced him to two years and six months in prison after a plea bargain with the prosecution, he was “determined to act” and “looking for a target.”

What’s more, Bentouati’s possible targets were, according to the verdict of February 23 convicting him of jihadist activities, the Eiffel Tower or the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Also Barajas airport (Madrid) or Salamanca Cathedral. “There is a video of his desire to reclaim ‘the great castle of Salamanca’,” explains the Audiencia Nacional ruling, stressing that photographs of these “places” were seized, in which he can be seen “marking them with the mark of Daech [acronym for Islamic State in Arabic].” A ring with this stamp later found in his house: “Which replicates the seal of the Prophet used by Daech both individually and for the insignia of his flag.” On the inside it says: “Muhammad, Messenger, Allah.”

But beyond his wishful thinking, did the 30-year-old have the capacity to take action? The Audiencia Nacional is convinced that he was “ready” to do so. Bentouati had educated himself, thanks to the contacts he made via social networks: especially WhatsApp groups. “By constantly searching, viewing and listening to [jihadist propaganda], the defendant carried out a process of indoctrination and had the decision to commit imminent acts of violence,” summarises the verdict, which convicted him of the crime of autonomous indoctrination and training, as well as falsification of documents. “He showed a high level of identification with the Daech terrorist organisation, as well as a great interest in weapons and combat techniques,” the Guardia Civil added when he was arrested in September 2020.

The warnings were initially triggered by Europol, which warned that the suspect was using a phone number that was used in two jihadist WhatsApp groups. A warning, however, that was far understated. Investigators found that he participated in around 50 jihadist WhatsApp groups and operated three Facebook, two Twitter and one Instagram profile for the redistribution of radical material he received. He had also received a “Knife Weapon Manual” via the Jihad and Military Sciences group: “A 30-page illustrated document [in PDF format] explaining step by step the techniques of handling and using a knife weapon.

The convict kept videos explaining how to make incendiary devices “with simple materials”. And he had access to “manuals for making explosive devices consisting of petrol and polyspam,” the judges explained in the verdict, which was explained by former justice minister Juan Carlos Campo. The court also adds that the accused acquired ”material” that enabled him to ”start manufacturing” explosives; issued proclamations on networks to ”encourage the carrying out of a violent jihad and the reconquest of Al-Andalus” […].

Bentouati had been living illegally in Spain for less than a year after traveling through various countries where different intelligence services had tracked him down.