The Argentine Federal Police arrested Manuel Antu Carrera, a 35-year-old man, in the city of Bariloche,
accused of having alleged links to jihadist terrorism in Syria
, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Carrera appeared in the database of
the General Secretariat of Interpol, registered with an annotation “TSC” for a crime related to terrorism and in the same category for the United States Department of State.
He also had addresses in Londrina or Foz de Iguazú, Brazil and had an identity card from that country, which expires this year.
"The fear is that although he is not from the Shiite branch of Islam, which leads Iran, he could generate networks or have links with the Sunni radicalism of the Islamic State (Isis)," an intelligence source told
Clarín.
Afghanistan's Isis-K claimed responsibility for the attack at a concert in Russia that left 135 dead.
In addition, Argentine security forces are on alert due to last Saturday's missile attack from Iran on Israel.
The search warrants for Carrera had been ordered by the federal judge of La Plata Ernesto Kreplak and the prosecutor Cecilia Incardona.
The capture of the individual, who is from General Roca, Río Negro, occurred after multidisciplinary tasks carried out by detectives from the
PFA Anti-Terrorist Investigation Unit
department , which included the analysis of telephone lines and the checking of the personal social networks of the investigated, as well as his inner circle and family.
The investigations identified his whereabouts in Bariloche, so after raiding two homes in the city, the federal agents managed to arrest him and seized a passport and three identity cards from the Federative Republic of Brazil in his name.
Carrera had entered Argentina by bus through the Paso de los Libres border crossing, coming from Florianópolis, Brazil and
had a request from the Federal Justice of Lomas de Zamora for a case from 2017
. On April 11, the Immigration authorities reported the situation and the acting Court ordered the investigative tasks.
Likewise, it was found that this man also had Brazilian citizenship and
had been deported to that country from Turkey,
on December 29 of that same year, when he wanted to cross illegally into Syria, presumably to join radical groups related to terrorism. At the time of his expulsion, Carrera claimed to work in the construction industry and to be Muslim, without frequenting any mosque or religious center.
He also described having traveled to Türkiye for "tourist reasons" and having an upcoming return date to Brazil.
Originally, he was to be deported to our country, but having dual nationality, he ended up in Brazilian territory.