ALMER脥A: A former London rapper who stopped making music not long after his father鈥檚 extradition to face terror charges in the bombings of two US embassies was arrested Monday in southern Spain on suspicion of joining Daesh fighters in Syria.
Two sources close to the investigation told The Associated Press that police arrested Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary and two other men at a rented apartment. Abdel Bary is the son of an Egyptian operative of Al-Qaeda who was convicted for events related to the 1998 bombings at US embassies in Africa that killed 224 people.
A media release from Spain鈥檚 National Police didn鈥檛 name Abdel Bary. It described him as an Egyptian national who left Europe to fight in Syria and Iraq.
The police statement also called him 鈥渙ne of the most sought terrorists in Europe, both because of his criminal trajectory in the ranks of Daesh and because of the high danger that he represented.鈥�
He and the two other men were arrested overnight at the apartment in Almer铆a, a port city in southeastern Spain, the AP learned from officials on the ground and interviews with local residents.
The three were being interrogated on Tuesday and were scheduled to appear before a National Court judge in Madrid on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the court that usually handles terror-related case. The spokesman who was not authorized to be named in media reports.
Police said the operation was the result of 鈥渋nternational cooperation鈥� between agents specialized in fighting terrorism who suspected that the Egyptian suspect might be traveling through Spain as he tried to return home from the Mideast.
Abdel Bary, who is believed to be 29, grew up in London to become a rapper known as Lyricist Jinn and L Jinny. Music videos still available online show him performing raps with references to drug use, violence and his family鈥檚 experience as asylum-seekers in Britain.
His radicalization reportedly took place shortly after his father, Abdel Abdul Bary, was extradited in 2012 to the United States, where he was tried for the twin bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The father was convicted in New York and sentenced in 2015 to a 25-year prison term.
In a 2013 post still viewable on what appeared to be his Facebook account, the younger Abdul Bary left a message for his fans: 鈥淚 have left everything for the sake of Allah,鈥� he wrote. One year later, in August 2014, a photo of him holding a man鈥檚 severed head was posted on Twitter.
British investigators initially suspected Abdel Bary as being 鈥淛ihadi John,鈥� the IS militant who spoke with a British accent in the video showing the execution of American journalist James Foley. Foley, one of the Daesh group鈥檚 early foreign victims, was decapitated. The real 鈥淛ihadi John鈥� turned out to be Mohammed Emwazi, who also grew up in London.
Britain鈥檚 Foreign Office declined to comment on Tuesday鈥檚 arrests, referring queries to the Spanish police.
Shiraz Maher, an expert on radicalization at London鈥檚 King鈥檚 College, described Abdel Bary as one of the better known among a cluster of Islamist extremists that emerged in west London in the early 2010s. He was also one of the earliest so-called 鈥渇oreign fighters鈥� to become disillusioned with Daesh.
鈥淒isillusionment kicked in at different stages for different people. He was known to have been disillusioned for quite a while. And he then just disappeared off the radar,鈥� Maher said, suggesting that Abdel Bary鈥檚 early departure doesn鈥檛 necessarily signal that he was no longer a threat.
鈥淗e was a member of Daesh and clearly participated in all kinds of horrors the group was involved in and should face punishment for those crimes,鈥� Maher said, using another name for Daesh. 鈥淏ut at this stage, he is more likely to be someone who was trying to save himself in Spain.鈥�
Abdel Bary was no stranger to Spanish law enforcement. In 2015, a Spanish woman was arrested at an airport terminal in Madrid when she tried to travel to Turkey with a fake passport in order to meet up with and marry Abdel Bary.
At her trial, Mar铆a de los 脕ngeles Cala M谩rquez said she had fallen in love with Abdel Bary after chatting with the former rapper online. In mid-2018 she was sentenced to two years of imprisonment with reprieve.
On Tuesday, Spanish police described Abdel Bary as having an鈥渆xtremely violent鈥� criminal profile.
His arrest took place in Cerro de San Crist贸bal, a historic neighborhood in Almer铆a known for its narrow streets dotted with nightclubs and a mix of old and new buildings leading to the city鈥檚 Alcazaba, a 10th-century fortress of Arabic origin.
Taxi driver 脕ngel V铆lchez told the AP that at least six police vehicles and about 30 officers, including many in plainclothes, had blocked access to several streets for most of Monday.
Another neighbor, who asked not to be named in media reports, said police had showed up at 3 a.m. Monday and took away at least one person handcuffed from an apartment used for short stays by tourists.
Spain鈥檚 Interior Ministry says police have arrested nearly 400 people connected to extremist religious groups since 2012. Many of the arrests have not led to judicial convictions.