Catalonia boosts own anti-terror apparatus

BarcelonaCatalonia’s police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, is more visible than ever. In the streets and busy areas, many officers can be seen sporting bullet-proof vests and carrying long firearms. Catalonia has stood at level 4 on the anti-terror alert scale since January 2015, but the Brussels attacks have prompted police to be even more alert. More patrols and greater vigilance are not the only ways to fight terrorism. Security in Catalonia is being tightened in two further ways: through police units tasked with probing possible Jihadi cells and by taking action inside prisons.

First, Catalonia’s Mossos aim to be an integral police force, one able to handle any challenge. Second, Catalonia’s Ministry of Justice is readying Catalan prisons to prevent, spot and respond to Islamist radicalisation. These are the two ways in which Catalonia is consolidating its own anti-terrorist apparatus, independent from Spain’s but cooperating closely with Madrid.

For some time now, the Mossos have been looking to strengthen their foreign information service, which is in charge of analysing and investigating (spying, in plain English) security threats coming from abroad. Despite being called “foreign”, this is the unit that also combats Jihadism, even when the potential extremists are living in Catalonia. To begin with, officers from the home information service —which handles threats within Catalonia— joined the foreign service, but it was not enough. The next step would have been to create new vacancies, but the entrance exams never seem to materialise and the investigation of Islamic extremism needs the additional resources now.

For that reason, a third avenue has opened up: shifting officers from the force’s investigation units to the foreign information service. Police sources put the figure at 30 to 60 officers, but it is not a definitive number and the conditions of the move have not been laid out. It is complex because of red tape —some officers are assigned to permanent posts and they are more difficult to move around—, incentives must be offered to encourage applicants and the effectiveness of investigation units must not be hindered. If too many officers were transferred from certain areas, units that deal with homicide, organised crime and robbery might suffer. Having said that, investigative officers are prime candidates to join the information service because they have experience with surveillance, wire taps and combing through social networks.

According to Spain’s Cadena SER, Antoni Rodríguez —the current chief of the central area for organised crime— is due to join and lead the foreign information service. Even though his transfer is a done thing, this newspaper has learned that last Friday Rodríguez was still at his office in the organised crime unit.

Prison inmates and radicalisation

In a recent interview for this newspaper a few days ago, Catalan Minister for Justice Carles Mundó stated that “if we had a jihadi convict, we would know how to deal with him”. Ministry sources claim that they are ready to handle jihadi inmates but, so far, Spain’s Audiencia Nacional has always sent them to prisons run by Spain’s national police. They might prove to be a valuable source of information to fight terror and the State prefers to keep them under its own watch (i.e. not in Catalonia).

Nevertheless, the Catalan ministry is adapting the existing programmes for violent inmates to deal with any who have become Islamic extremists, too. Belgium, Denmark and France have seen instances where actual terrorists had become radicals while in prison. As far as we know, this has not happened in Catalonia yet. No radical jihadis have been detained in Catalonia’s prisons.

Of course, there is no guarantee that this will not happen in the future: those who end up in prison have already broken the law, are often in a vulnerable position and are prime candidates for brainwashing. Extremism can give their lives the sense of purpose that they failed to find elsewhere. For that reason, prison staff are being trained so that they may be ready handle such cases. According to Mundó, there are “600 senior prison staff trained to prevent and spot radicalisation processes”. Besides, sources within the ministry noted that 200 junior staff are about to embark on a specific course. A source from the Prison Service mentioned that trained prison staff watch out for details such as who every inmate communicates with, whether they cease to have any contact with women or even if they give up smoking as possible telltale signs of radicalisation. If one particular convict exhibited these signs, he would be singled out for special surveillance, although he would remain none the wiser. All of that would be carried out while liaising with the Catalan police at all times.

Mossos, CNI and Spain’s police: a complex relationship

While Spain’s intelligence service, the CNI, and the Catalan police force work together to investigate jihadism, the relationship between the latter and the Spanish police is more complex. A clear example of this is the tip-off by two Spanish officers to a jihadi group which the Mossos neutralised in Spring last year. This move allowed three members of the group to flee (although they were later detained in Bulgaria as they were trying to get to Syria) and jeopardised the personal safety of a mole which the Catalan police had placed inside the cell. Spain’s Audiencia Nacional was quick to dismiss the case.