Mastermind behind last August’s attacks on Barcelona was CNI informer
According to Spanish daily El País, he was recruited by Spain’s National Intelligence Centre
The Imam of Ripoll, Abdelbaki Es Satty, widely considered to be the mastermind behind the attacks on Barcelona and Cambrils on 17 August, and the head of the jihadist cell that carried them out, was known to Spanish security forces and intelligence services.
According to an article published in El País on Friday, Es Satty was a CNI informer. After initially being investigated as part of Operation Jackal [an anti-terrorist operation carried out in Ceuta in 2015], Es Satty was recruited to the agency during his time in a Castelló jail, where he served time from 2010 to 2014 for drug trafficking.
Sources close to the Spanish intelligence community confirmed to El País that Es Satty was a CNI informer, though they were not able to confirm when this role began or ended, or whether he was paid for his services. According to the same sources, all contact with Es Satty was characteristic of the protocols followed to obtain information as part of the fight against terrorism. Es Satty was not charged with terrorism, however, but rather of drug trafficking.
