TERROR ATTACKS
Spain denies Belgian warning over imam
After unions of the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard admitted on Tuesday that they had information about the alleged perpetrators of the Barcelona attacks which they had not shared with the Catalan Mossos d’Esquadra, the Spanish Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, yesterday denied having received information from Belgium regarding the Ripoll imam Abdelbaki Es Satty. In doing so Zoido contradicted the mayor of the Flemish town of Vilvoorde, Hans Bonte, who claimed on Tuesday that suspicions about Es Satty had been transmitted to the Spanish authorities.
Zoido made his denial from Paris, where Spanish and French police chiefs were meeting to discuss cooperation in the fight against terrorism. “Neither the National Police nor the Civil Guard received any communication from the Belgian authorities,” Zoido remarked from the French capital.