Brit woman released after arrest with ‘pro-Iran boyfriend over attempted assassination of Spanish politician’
A BRITISH woman who was arrested alongside her boyfriend over the alleged attempted assassination of a Spanish politician has been released on bail.
Sasha Brooks, believed to be in her mid 20s, was cuffed by cops in the small town of Lanjaron, Granada, alongside boyfriend Naraya Gomez in recent days.
Gomez is accused of hiring a hitman for the assassination attempt of far-right politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras in the wealthy neighbourhood of Salamanca in Madrid on November 9.
The founder of the far-right political party Vox was shot in the face as he was walking home, but miraculously survived.
Sasha was said to have spent three nights in police custody being quizzed over the shooting but has since been released after appearing in court.
She has however been ordered to sign on at court every fortnight - and hand over her passport.
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National Police had launched a terrorism probe after the 78-year-old politician insisted the hit was ordered by the Iranian regime.
It came after Iran declared Vidal-Quadras - a well-known defender of the country’s opponents - as a "terrorist" in October last year.
Police sources said Gomez is a Muslim convert who follows a Shiite belief system led by the ayatollahs of Iran.
His British partner - who has now been named as Sasha - was also arrested at one of two properties they share in the quiet town of Lanjaron.
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They both work for Sasha’s mother, who is also British.
She is said to be from a "good family" and rents one of the properties with her mother.
Police were yet to find any evidence she was involved in the alleged act of terror.
Sasha appeared before a court, alongside her boyfriend and a second man, 22, in Madrid on Saturday.
She and the 22-year-old were released on bail but Gomez remained in custody.
The second man also has to appear in court regularly, and had to hand in his passport.
'IN SHOCK'
State prosecutors are said to be seeking Gomez be remanded in prison as cops continue to probe the alleged attack.
However, Francisco de Jorge, the judge at Spain’s centralised criminal court the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid who is set to make the ruling, has yet to announce his decision.
Locals told The Sun that the quiet town of Lanjaron is "in shock" after hearing of the arrests.
One said: "Sasha Brooks is really quite popular. There’s a lot of rumours going around saying she was desperate for money but that is not true at all.
"She is very vibrant and fashionable - never in a million years would you associate her with this type of thing."
Another added: "It’s not a family that needs money, so there’s no financial reason to do something like this.
"The guy (Gomez) is also really lovely, we’ve known him since he was a baby, he was always really polite and there was nothing to suggest he was capable of something like this, we just don’t get it."
POLICE PROBE
Police revealed this week that the mastermind behind the hit paid an Albanian expat, 22, €500 to buy a BMW motorcycle and place it under his name.
The bricklayer was ordered to update the vehicle’s insurance to avoid any unwanted attention.
He had to travel from Malaga to Madrid to fill out all the necessary paperwork, and was even escorted to the capital by the hired killer who would go on to shoot Vidal-Quadras in broad daylight.
There is no suggestion the Albanian man knew what crime was being planned.
In the weeks running up to the shooting, the home of Vidal-Quadras was being watched and studied.
Police are now racing to find the connection between the arrested Muslim convert, Gomez, and the suspected hitman, a French citizen of Tunisian origin.
The Frenchman is said to have already killed a person in Paris before accepting the contract hit on Vidal-Quadras.
HUNTING A HITMAN
According to police sources quoted by , Gomez and the hitman travelled to Madrid the night before the attack, and stayed in a hotel.
On the day in question, they both travelled to Salamanca, but only the hitman approached the target’s home on a motorbike.
Gomez was nearby in a car, according to reports.
The killer waited for Vidal-Quadras to arrive back at his home before approaching him with his helmet still on and firing at his head.
He fled the scene and burnt the motorbike in a nearby village in Fuenlabrada, before Gomez picked him up in his car.
The hitman is still being hunted and is still wanted in France for the alleged murder he carried out in Paris.
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He is said to have a rap sheet of another 40 alleged crimes.
Cops are now trying to discover who hired the hit.
