Spain suspects arms cache discovery in Ceuta linked to IS

The Spanish interior ministry said on Tuesday the arms cache discovered by Civil Guards on April 7 in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta on Friday is thought to be "related" to the Islamic State.

The cache, which contained "four pistols, two sub-machine guns and several blade weapons," was discovered in a cardboard box, buried on wasteland in the enclave which is situated on the north coast of Morocco, Xinhua reported.

At first, it was uncertain whether it was related to the Islamic State (IS) or an organised crime group, although the discovery of an IS flag in the area raised suspicions it was indeed connected to the terrorist organisation.

Tuesday's communique from the interior ministry explained investigators were able to recover information from a USB flash drive which was also recovered in the cache and this "has allowed investigators to know its contents, among which were instructions over the internal coordination of the group...and generic information over possible objectives."

These possible "objectives" for a terrorist attack were all in the city of Ceuta, although the ministry highlighted they "were not up to date and were in a very early stage of elaboration."

Nevertheless, the ministry believed the discovery was an "important leap in the fight against jihadist terrorism in Spain" as it gives an important insight into the creation of logistical structures of an IS cell.

Ceuta is one of the centres of IS recruitment networks in Spanish territory and several arrests of people suspected of forming part of these networks have taken place in recent months.