'These boys were raised among us': terror cell town reels after Catalonia attacks Ripoll, where a dozen men appear to have been radicalised, is no Muslim ghetto but a small moderately prosperous communityThe Guardian/UK, Aug 22,2017
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On Monday, however, Catalan police confirmed that Es Satty never went to Morocco. Instead, DNA of his remains have been found amid the debris of a bomb-making factory in Alcanar that exploded the day after he left home.
Spanish anti-terrorism investigators are now working on the assumption that the imam was the “catalyst” in the radicalisation a cell of a dozen mostly young Moroccan men in Ripoll, where he had been leading prayers and teaching Arabic for the past two years.
There were three sets of brothers among the alleged terrorists, many of whom went to the local Abat Oliba school and played football on the pitches next to the Ter river.
Ripoll is no Muslim ghetto, but a quiet, moderately prosperous town nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees. It is famous for its monastery, Santa Maria de Ripoll, which was founded in the 9th century by Count Wilfred the Hairy, an important figure among Catalan nationalists.
About 5% of the town’s 11,000 population are Muslim. Most are Moroccans who started arriving in the early 1990s to work at local factories.
Interviewed on Monday, Ripoll’s officials and residents expressed their shock that boys who were considered good students could have had their heads turned to the point that they were responsible for last week’s atrocities.
Unemployment has risen in recent years but local officials discounted it as a major factor in the radicalisation of the town’s terror cell, because most had jobs or were students. “We’re in shock. These boys were raised among us. There’s no ghetto here. They were our neighbours,” said Dolors Vilalta, the secretary of security in the municipal government.
“We had no inkling. If we had a hint we would have acted, but there was nothing,” she said. “Trust is broken. The feeling of security is gone. But we can’t give in to anger. That would be dangerous. We must move on.”
Relatives, friends and neighbours blame Es Satty. After he arrived in town, young Muslim men spent more time at the mosque.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/22/spain-attacks-these-boys-were-raised-among-us-the-town-where-terror-cell-was-born
