Who Is Allal El Mourabit, the Fugitive Jihadist Who Has Killed 3 People in Spain

Radical Islamism is already the main threat to national security in Spain and Europe, and news like this is even more unsettling. The police have arrested in France the serial killer of three farmers in Spain.He is Allal El Mourabit, a jihadist under surveillance who disappeared in September 2023. 

His family reported the disappearance after this jihadist, detained several times by the police, had removed his electronic bracelet. At the time of the disappearance, he was living in Vitoria. The police activated the alert, but the fugitive left a trail of blood between November 2023 and January 2024. 

His first victim was a man he killed in November 2023 in Tudela, Navarra, when he was leaving work in an olive field. A month later, he committed another murder also in Navarra. In January 2024, he killed another farmer, this time in Vilanova de la Barça, in Lleida.

Highly Radicalized Terrorist

As revealed by police sources, Allal El Mourabit Ahammarb is a truck driver with a history of Islamist terrorism. His high degree of radicalization made him especially dangerous. He used to send dangerous messages through networks like YouTube, and he had been in and out of prison several times.

The last time, the judge ordered his release under surveillance, and that is why he was required to wear an electronic bracelet. A joint investigation between Mossos, National Police, and French Police managed to find him in the south of France. He will now be extradited for the crimes committed in the Spanish State, although it is already too late for his three victims.

People like Arlet are asking on X "how can it be that this individual with a history of terrorism is circulating freely." They warn that "we are treating security as a game," and call for more controls.

The news has caused much unease, especially because Spain and Europe are on maximum anti-terrorist alert. The call to global jihad by Islamic leaders following the Israeli offensive in Gaza (October 2023) has multiplied Islamist terrorist activity. Especially in Spain and Catalonia, one of the main focuses of radical Islamism in Europe.

The police's actions have managed to thwart several attacks in recent months, and catch and expel several radicalized individuals. But it is not enough. The case of this fugitive jihadist turned serial killer shows that something is failing in the system.

He Had Spanish Nationality

Allal El Mourabit is a Moroccan with Spanish nationality, divorced and with a child in Morocco. He led a solitary life in Vitoria, where he barely went out or socialized. Although he was not medicated and no mental disorders are recorded, which is why his family was surprised when he stopped showing signs of life.

He was first arrested after the Nice terrorist attack in 2016 in France, where a truck driver like him fatally ran over 86 people. The police were tracking him because he was a regular of radical propaganda on social media. He was intercepted in Türkiye when he was trying to enter Syria.

He spent two months in pre-trial detention, after which he was released before being arrested again. His second conviction was overturned on the grounds that he had been accused twice for the same acts. It was then that they put the electronic bracelet on him to keep him under control, and he was prohibited from leaving Vitoria. 

After disappearing, he committed the three crimes following the same modus operandi. He moved on foot through rural areas like a fugitive, slept outdoors or in abandoned buildings, and ate what he stole from the field. He killed the three farmers with a machete to steal their car and be able to move. 

The presence of the same trail led investigators to conclude that it was a serial killer. They could not imagine that it was the fugitive jihadist from weeks before. This raises several questions, all of them unsettling and unanswered.

Why did he have Spanish nationality? Why wasn't he previously expelled from Spain? Is the Spanish system too lenient for jihadism cases? Is the anti-terrorist protection system really working? Are we really safe?