Morocco arrests IS suspect in joint probe with US

Moroccan police announced Friday that they had arrested a suspected member of the Islamic State group who was accused of organizing “acts of terrorism” in collaboration with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The declaration came ahead of the start of a conference of member countries in the US-led coalition against ISIS in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Wednesday.

The suspect, based in the kingdom’s northeastern Berkane region, was implicated in the “preparation of a terrorist plot aimed at delivering a serious blow to public order,” Morocco’s counterterrorism police, the Central Office of Judicial Research, said in a statement.

“The outlines of his terrorist conspiracy were unmasked on the basis of research and technical investigation carried out jointly with the FBI,” it added.

This operation “is further evidence of the persistent dangers of the terrorist threat that hangs” over Morocco and “the importance of bilateral cooperation… with the United States in the fight against terrorism.”

The suspect, a 37-year-old engineer, “ran a closed user group dedicated to extremist goals and projects and aimed at recruiting and drawing in sympathizers,” the statement said.

His objective was to carry out attacks against Moroccan and foreign dignitaries on Moroccan soil, it alleged.

Although Morocco has escaped the jihadist violence that has wracked other Middle Eastern and North African countries in recent years, security services often report suspects arrested in operations aimed at militant cells.

The police claim to have apprehended over 3,500 people in terrorism-related offenses since 2002.