Spanish police warned of country’s vulnerability, states Europol report

Date: 18/03/04

SPAIN'S police had alerted Europol of the country's vulnerability to attack by Islamic extremists before last week's devastating attacks in Madrid, European Voice has learned.

In an analysis on terrorist activities in Europe during 2002-03, which Europol has still not published, the section provided by the Spanish police said the government's support for the US-led war on Iraq "constitutes a risk factor for Spain" and al-Qaeda continues to pose "the greatest threat to our interests".

Yet despite that assessment, the Spanish media reported this week that the government had reduced the number of police monitoring suspected Islamic fundamentalists by up to half in some cities. Newspaper El Mundo has also reported that disputes between Morocco, the native land of suspects for the Madrid outrages, and Spain over fishing rights, the island of Perejil and immigration, had frustrated cooperation on terrorism.

Spain's interior ministry has refused to confirm or deny these reports. In its submission to Europol, Spanish police said: "The stance taken by our country regarding the support of the military intervention of Iraq has caused great animosity in the Palestinian population of the occupied territories, as well as in various Islamic countries. During demonstrations protesting the invasion of Iraq, the slogans were directed not only against the US and the United Kingdom, but also against Spain. In one demonstration, the photograph of [Prime Minister] José María Aznar was included among the national leaders constituting the 'axis of evil' directed against the Arab world."

In addition, the police stated the increased security by Western countries around "particular potential targets" like embassies, airports, nuclear plants and military facilities "could lead the terrorists to revert to attacking 'soft targets'". Hotels, historic buildings or important economic locations were listed in the latter category.

Ireland's EU presidency announced this week that it wishes to see "early action" on promoting "systematic collaboration in intelligence services between member states". One Irish diplomat said the possibility of giving Europol an enhanced role in coordinating such collaboration is likely to be discussed at tomorrow's (19 March) emergency meeting of EU interior ministers. However, Jürgen Storbeck, director of the police agency, had not been invited to attend the session.

Europol currently has a counter-terrorism unit comprising of 15 full-time officials and seven others seconded from member states.

An unpublished report by Europol, the European police office, warned that Spanish Government support for the US-led war on Iraq was 'a risk factor for Spain' and al-Qaeda posed 'the greatest threat to our interests'.

https://www.europol.europa.eu/ https://www.europol.europa.eu/

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