Nearly 200 foreign jihadists have been arrested in Spain in the last five years

Eduardo González In the last five years, 196 people have been arrested in Spain for crimes related to jihadism, in addition to another 123 people of Spanish nationality who are first-generation descendants of foreign citizens. This information comes from a government response to a series of parliamentary questions from Deputy Alberto Catalán (of the Navarrese People's Union and the Mixed Group in Congress) regarding the evolution of and response to jihadism in Spain over the last five years. Specifically, the Navarrese parliamentarian submitted a series of questions on January 7th regarding the number of people arrested in 2025 for crimes linked to jihadism, the distribution of those arrested by Autonomous Community, the reasons for the increase in people linked to jihadist crimes in recent years, the number of jihadist detainees who have been tried and the sentences they face, the average age of those arrested in the last five years, the number of foreigners, Spaniards of foreign descent, "lone wolves," and minors arrested during that same period, the number of people who were about to carry out terrorist acts imminently among those arrested during the last five years, the plans to increase the level of anti-terrorism alert since level four (high) was established, the most important source of jihadist indoctrination in our country, and the Government's assessment of the fight against jihadist terrorism. In its response (the same for all questions), registered on February 24, the Government asserts that counterterrorism activity in Spain is structured around the National Counterterrorism Strategy 2023 (ENCOT 2023), “which is demonstrating high levels of effectiveness,” and that in 2025 alone, one hundred people were arrested for jihadist terrorism offenses in Spain: 33 in Catalonia, 13 in the Community of Madrid, 13 in the Valencian Community, nine in Melilla, six in Andalusia, six in Castile and León, five in Castile-La Mancha, five in Galicia, four in the Basque Country, two in Aragon, two in the Canary Islands, and two in the Region of Murcia. Regarding the last five years, the total number of foreign nationals arrested for terrorism-related offenses linked to jihadism is 196, and the number of those arrested with Spanish nationality or Spanish parents is 123. The nationalities of those arrested in Spain in the last five years include Albania, Algeria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, France, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Yemen, in addition to Spanish citizens and stateless persons. No specific figures or percentages are provided. The average age of those arrested is 32, and the total number of detainees under the age of 18 is 37. Regarding those deported for these types of crimes, there were five in 2021, 32 in 2022, 47 in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 21 in 2025, for a total of 116 in five years. Concerning the increase in individuals linked to jihadist terrorism offenses in Spain, the Government highlights the greater impact of the propaganda strategy of the main terrorist organizations (“whose primary dissemination is online as a source of indoctrination used by terrorist organizations of jihadist etiology”), which increasingly affects self-radicalized individuals, “who are increasingly younger and minors, a trend that is also being observed in the main countries around us.” Regarding the individuals arrested for imminent terrorist acts, the Government maintains that, although some cases have been detected showing evidence of self-training and target selection activities at various stages, most of them incipient or preliminary, “in no case were these activities immediately preceding the commission of an attack.” According to the Executive, “the high level of police activity and the number of arrests should be interpreted as an indicator of preventive effectiveness, not as an automatic reflection of greater structural and imminent danger.” Furthermore, the Government reiterates that Spain is currently at level four (high) of its five-level anti-terrorism alert scale, established on June 26, 2015, following the attacks that same year in France, Tunisia, Kuwait, and Somalia. Since then, the Government has maintained this level four, which has been reviewed weekly by the Terrorist Threat Assessment Board according to the evolution of the risk and the international and national situation and based on the capabilities and opportunities of the threat both for Spain and for Spanish interests abroad.

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