John Culatto
THE man arrested by authorities in Algericas for the attacks that killed one person and injured several more first landed in Gibraltar on a jet-ski in 2019, police confirmed.
Royal Gibraltar Police sources confirmed Spanish press reports that said the Moroccan suspect in the killing, Yassin Kanza, first arrived without papers on August 2, 2019.
Local police kept the man in prison from that date right up until August 8, when along with three others he was deported back to Morocco.
Gibraltar authorities are watching the developments very closely.
They encouraged the public to ‘remain vigilant and to report any security and law enforcement concerns’ over the next few days and weeks in a statement.
But despite the attack, after a meeting with security chiefs, the Gibraltar Contingency Council (GCC) chose to keep the terrorist threat level to Moderate.
This means that a terrorist attack is ‘possible but unlikely’, it said.
“The GCC will continue to monitor threat intelligence as it relates to Gibraltar and our Law Enforcement Agencies will continue to take all necessary measures to keep the public safe,” the government said.
Kanza murdered a priest in the attack, witnessed by some Gibraltarians who were in their neighbouring city.
Spanish police arrested him at the port after he tried to flee the scene.
The Governor and Chief Minister of Gibraltar sent their condolences and solidarity to the families of the victims, mayor and people of Algeciras.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo wrote to the Spanish Foreign Secetary and Mayor of Algeciras to show his concern.
ALSO READ:
- Culprit in Algeciras church massacre in Spain’s terror attack was Moroccan national under surveillance and awaiting deportation
- EXCLUSIVE: ‘Author’ of tweet that predicted horror Algeciras machete attack comes forward
- Twitter hate page predicted horror machete attack in Algeciras with mystery tweet
