- Spanish police said they had arrested one of Europe's most wanted terrorists
- Police sources said today that it was British-Egyptian Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary
- Abdel Bary was once thought to be Jihadi John, actually Mohammed Emwazi
British 'ISIS rapper' Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary snuck into Spain by boat after posing as an undocumented migrant, it was claimed last night.
Spanish state broadcaster TVE said the jihadi reached the city of Almeria in a patera, the wooden boats Africans traditionally use to reach Europe from as far afield as Senegal.
It said Bary had reached Spain 'a few days ago.'
Another unconfirmed report on Tuesday night in national Spanish newspaper La Razon claimed he was intending to return to the UK as soon as possible.
Police have said they are aware of the way Bary reached Spain and confirmed he came from North Africa - but have not yet admitted he arrived in a 'patera.'
British terrorist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary (pictured) is reported to be the 'foreign terrorist fighter' detained by Spanish anti-terror police in a raid in Almeria
Abdel Bary is thought to have been arrested after a raid in the early hours of Monday in an an area of Almeria called Cerro de San Cristobal
They revealed they had arrested one of Europe's most wanted Foreign Terrorist Fighters earlier on Tuesday along with two other men they were trying to identify.
Bary, who shared sickening social media images of himself holding a decapitated head in Syria in 2014, will appear before a Madrid judge on Wednesday in a closed hearing.
He was held during a dawn raid on Monday by heavily-armed cops.
The anti-terror officers led him out of his hideaway in Almeria city centre with a jacket over his head.
The 29-year-old was once a key suspect in the hunt for the man dubbed Jihadi John filmed putting a knife to American journalist James Foley's throat before boasting of having carried out his beheading.
The executioner was subsequently named as Londoner Mohammed Emwazi in February 2015.
After joining ISIS, Abdel Bary issued threats against the West and even posted a picture of himself holding the severed head of a Syrian solder
A spokesman for Spain's National Police confirmed Tuesday, referring to ISIS by its acronym Daesh: 'National Police officers have developed a counter-terrorism operation which has culminated in the arrest in Almeria of one of the most wanted Daesh Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Europe.
'Another two people have been arrested and the authorities are currently working to establish their identity and their relationship with the other man.'
Revealing all three had recently entered Spain from North Africa illegally, the National Police said in a statement: 'The detainees adapted their behaviour to Spain's Covid-19 State of Emergency, going outside very little, separately and always with face masks on to avoid being detected.'
Bary was not named in the statement put out by Spanish authorities, who described the main suspect as being of Egyptian origin.
Well-placed police subsequently confirmed the 'dangerous' Foreign Terrorist Fighter they had arrested was Bary.
He was born in Egypt but moved to the UK as a six-year-old after his dad was released from prison and applied for political asylum with his wife and family.
Before leaving for Syria in 2013 he made a name for himself as a rapper and some of his music was played on Radio 1.
Police sources said Tuesday that British-Egyptian jihadist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary was the 'foreign terrorist fighter' detained in a raid in Almeria on Monday.
Authorities described him as 'one of Europe's most wanted terrorist fighters' with an 'extremely violent criminal profile' and a 'criminal record in the ranks of ISIS'.
Police said Abdel Bary and two others had been hiding at an apartment in Almeria after sneaking into Spain from North Africa and using the coronavirus pandemic as cover to keep a low profile.
Abdel Bary and the two others were arrested in a raid in the early hours of Monday in an area of Almeria called Cerro de San Cristobal.
Police said that their agents had conducted an 'anti-terrorist operation' that 'culminated in the arrest of one of the most wanted Daesh foreign terrorist fighters in Europe', using an alternative name for ISIS.
The official statement did not name the man arrested but police sources and Spanish media have identified him as Abdel Bary.
'Another two people have been arrested and the authorities are currently working to establish their identity and their relationship with the other man,' police said.
Authorities said they had pounced after gathering intelligence that the fighter intended to return to Europe via Spain and may be hiding in the country.
'Various lines of investigation were activated to find out his possible clandestine arrival in Spain and locate the chosen place to hide,' police explained.
'After a complex investigation it was possible to determine the circumstances of his arrival on the Almeria coast, as well as his subsequent movements, finally achieving his location and arrest.
'Those arrested adopted iron-clad security measures, both in their journey from North Africa to our territory and in the movements they made in Almería.
'The detainees, already in Spain, adapted their behaviour to the state of emergency [in place] as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, making few exits, separately, and always with masks to avoid being detected.'
Police said Abdel Bary 'had spent several years in the Syrian-Iraqi conflict zone and has both very peculiar personality traits and an extremely violent criminal profile, which caught the attention of the European police and intelligence services'.
In 2013 Abdel Bary (pictured) travelled to Syria to fight with ISIS, becoming one of the earliest foreign fighters to join the terror group
Abdel Bary, a British-Egyptian former rapper from Maida Vale in London, is the son of Adel Abdel Bari who helped to kill more than 200 people in Islamist bombings in Africa in the 1990s.
The younger Abdel Bary was born in Egypt but moved to the UK as a six-year-old after his father was released from prison and was granted political asylum.
Before Abdel Bary left London he was an ambitious rapper known as Lyricist Jinn and L Jinny whose tracks were played on BBC radio stations.
Friends later described how he had converted to radical Islam after growing angry with British authorities over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2013 he travelled to Syria to fight with ISIS, becoming one of the earliest foreign fighters to join the terror group.
Abdel Bary issued threats against the West and even posted a picture of himself holding the severed head of a Syrian solder.
He initially emerged as a suspect in the hunt for Jihadi John, who carried out the beheadings of ISIS prisoners including journalist James Foley.
Jihadi John was eventually revealed to be Londoner Mohammed Emwazi, one of a gang of terrorists who were known as the 'Beatles' because of their British accents.
Abdel Bary (pictured) was born in Egypt but moved to the UK as a six-year-old after his father was released from prison and was granted political asylum
Spanish police released this footage of three suspects being arrested after they were discovered at an apartment in Almeria
By 2015, Abdel Bary had apparently become disillusioned with ISIS and was being hunted in Turkey after fleeing Syria.
The same year his father was jailed in the United States for his role in the 1998 al-Qaeda-linked embassy bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania.
In October 2015, Abdel Bary junior tried to have a Spanish woman flown to Turkey to join him as his bride, but the plan was thwarted by Spanish authorities.
Maria de los Angeles Cala Marquez, from Huelva, was jailed for two years in June 2018 after admitting trying to travel to Turkey to meet up with Bary and help him return to Europe.
The former hotel chamber maid was arrested when she tried to board a flight to Istanbul and travel to a secret location where Bary was on the run from western intelligence services.
According to the prosecution indictment, Cala Marquez admitted she had intended to travel to Syria to marry Abdel Bary.
The young woman had arranged her trip to Syria via Turkey and had contacted several intermediaries online to help to provide her a safe path to ISIS territory.
But the plot was foiled by Spain's Guardia Civil paramilitary police who captured her at Madrid Airport in October 2015.
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