The operation was carried out in collaboration with Europol and the Swiss police.
Keystone
Spanish police announced on Saturday the arrest of three young men accused of being "responsible for the Spanish version of one of the most influential neo-Nazi websites" in the world. The trio take their cues from a Spanish man based in Switzerland, Agence France-Press (AFP) reported.
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Aged 21 to 23, “three men were arrested in [the Spanish cities of] Barcelona, Tarragona and Zaragoza. They were the administrators of the Spanish section of the website, aimed at spreading anti-Semitic, homophobic and racist hate messages,” police explained in a statement cited by AFP.
They fed the Spanish version of “an online newspaper distributed from the United States” in English, spreading neo-Nazi ideology and expressing devotion to Adolf Hitler.
The alleged leader and ideologist of this section was tracked down and questioned in Switzerland, according to the police statement. He is a 29-year-old Spaniard, considered as an international neo-Nazi referent, with a network of more than 50,000 subscribers.
“Very well known on the network, this individual allegedly started his activity with a blog under the title +alerta judiada+ (Jewish alert)” which published mainly anti-Semitic articles and videos but also attacked the lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) collective, as well as the feminist movement.
The operation was carried out in collaboration with the European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, and the Swiss police.
According to Spanish police, the arrested men used false identities and computer servers abroad in a bid to hide their place of residence.
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