MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan authorities arrest 14-year-old terrorism suspect

The suspect attended a local technical school (UTU) which will now have to look after the rest of the students, some of whom might have been lured into terrorism

A Uruguayan 14-year-old student who spoke fluent Arabic and whose dangerousness had been tipped to local authorities by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Israeli Secret Service (Mossad) has been arrested in the rural town of Lascano in the southeastern department (province) of Rocha.

 At the time of his detention last Friday, the suspect was found to be in possession of materials associated with terrorism, such as ISIS videos as well as weapons and chats about homemade explosives, which had also been relayed to other teenagers. The suspect had been recruited online, it was also reported.

Uruguayan Prosecutors ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the potential terrorist, who has now been housed at a juvenile detention center in Montevideo run by the National Institute of Adolescent Social Inclusion (Inisa).

After the arrest, other police operations have been undertaken, albeit in absolute secrecy. However, helicopter raids were visible in Lascano as intelligence explored the possible extent of the local threatening cell.

Despite the secrecy surrounding the cases, which is being handled as a national intelligence matter, in addition to the legal guarantees to which the suspect is entitled as a minor, it was reported by local media that the man was charged with an attempt against the integrity of the national territory.

During the raid on his home, electronic devices containing sensitive material, such as videos of executions and lists of massacres worldwide, were seized. The evidence also included intelligence-related magazines and screenshots of conversations in which information about weapons. He was also said to have expressed suicidal thoughts.

In the meantime, Judge Mirna Busich, who is handling the case, issued a 30-day detention warrant while investigations are carried out to determine the extent and actual perilousness of the suspect and the people with whom he had socialized. At the same time, the teenager has been offered proper psychological and psychiatric assistance, it was explained.

The suspect was a regular student at a local UTU (technical school), which was briefed on the student's situation by the suspect's own mother. The institution said the teenager “has all the support” from his family and also pledge to look after the classmates of the student now incarcerated.

Lascano's population amounted to less than 8,000 according to 2011 data.