Antonio Salas: Antonio Salas goes undercover with the Jihadists

The reporter who was circumcised to keep his cover

Written by Marlon Dolcy, Leonilde Marques (Translator)

Antonio Salas has worked across the world, investigating Neo-Nazi football hooliganism, exposing pre-teen prostitution in Madrid and even running Carlos the Jackal's website for him. He has gone so deep with his undercover work for El Palestino - his latest book on Islamic terrorism, for which he infiltrated jihadist cells - that he underwent emergency circumcision to avoid detection at a public bath, and converted to Islam after completing the research. Marlon spoke to him about his work.

In Diary of a Skin you infiltrated the Neo-Nazi ultras of Real Madrid FC. Apart from the associated fascism and violence of the Franco supported club, did you ever feel a sense of camaraderie (often glamorized in soccer hooliganism)?

I remember the feeling of power that was to walk the streets of Madrid with my fellow skinheads; people who passed us looked away, turned away before us, and even changed road sides. We were the owners of the streets. In the stadium is different. Football clubs like Real Madrid, support their radical groups because they are the loudest and the ones that most encourage the team from the stands (I lost my voice in a Real Madrid’s match). They also spend the most money in merchandising, and many of them are members of the club, therefore they can vote in elections over the team management. So the directors don’t mind if they leave the stadium to beat up blacks, gays, immigrants and rival team’ supporters...

I can hardly imagine what it must have been like to be in some of the situations you found yourself in. In your undercover reports, did you suffer from constant paranoia that you would be found out?

It’s inevitable. All undercover people (police, spies and journalists) suffer the paranoia of being discovered. When you are carrying a hidden camera, that fear multiplies, because if you are in a Nazi concert, a roadside brothel, or a terrorist training camp… if someone was to suspect me, and discover the camera, there would be no excuse. However that paranoia multiplies again later whenever I publish a book and the insults arrive, the threats and persecution from those who are affected by my research.

Were there ever times where you genuinely thought or could sense that your life was in grave danger?

I remember the first time because I still carry around my neck the 9mm bullet that nearly blew up my knee during a meeting with a dealer, when I was infiltrating a sex trafficking gang. But during my last investigation there were many: my first meeting with Hezbollah in Beirut, crossing the border of Israel with secret recording equipment, during my training with weapons in Venezuela... too many. Though one of the moments in which I felt the most vulnerable was during the Hammerskin (a violent white power group) trial. I was a protected witness for the District Attorney’s Office, when we discovered that the Nazis hired a hitman to stop me from testifying. In that case my safety was in the hands of the Civil Guard. Fortunately everything went well.

How extreme is sex trafficking in Europe?

Diabolical! Although the infiltration of international terrorism was more complicated, more expensive and dangerous, the infiltration of gangs trafficking women and girls was the hardest that I ever done emotionally and psychologically. I got to negotiate the purchase of women from only $17 in Europe, and even bought virgin girls, 10 and 12, while dining at a restaurant in Madrid. My hidden camera recordings helped dismantle some of these gangs. But when you stop one, 10 appear in its place, because there’s a big demand for the sex trade in Europe...

Did you ever sympathise (in some way or form) with some of the people who you were ultimately deceiving?

Although it sounds strange, I try never to lie, or at least I keep lying to a minimum. A good undercover person must find in their own personality things in common with the group that is going to infiltrate, and build their new identity based on these real things, lying to a minimum. More than sympathising, I actually developed good relationships with Nazis, smugglers and revolutionists. In fact I still keep in touch with some of them because they have realised that my intentions were honest, and their beliefs wrong. Others, of course, (especially those who in prison) don’t want anything to do with me.

You ran a website for Carlos the Jackal? What was your impression of the renowned Venezualan terrorist?

He’s an amazing man. Very cultured (spoke five languages) and with a vast personal experience. He has been a legendary figure of the twentieth century, and kept personal relationships with heads of state. By being his webmaster and promoter of the Committee for his repatriation, I had the opportunity to record dozens and dozens of phone conversations with him for months, and I was always surprised by his views about politics, religion, etc. For me, as a journalist, it has been fascinating to talk for months with the world’s most famous terrorist until the appearance of Bin Laden. Unknowingly he became my passport to other terrorist groups around the world.

Like Carlos you converted to Islam while producing your book El Palestino, and have remained true to this faith since. What is it about Islam that appeals to you?

I did not know anything about Islam before starting this investigation. I believed all the clichés and prejudices that are published daily in the West. But as I got deeper into Islam and integrated myself in their mosques, I discovered that all these prejudices are false, and part of hidden agendas. Identifying Islam with terrorism, just because blaspheming fools kill with the Koran in their hands, is as unfair as to identify Christianity with terrorism, because members of the IRA, the KKK, and white militias, kill, rape or rob in the name of the Bible.

You detail how you got circumcised and wrote the whole of the Koran in Arabic to prepare for your role as 'Mohammed Abdullah' (your identity in El Palestino) which is really extreme. Could you document how else did you go about constructing fictional identities for your investigative reports?

Each undercover project is different, but the process is basically the same. Before putting on the hidden camera and conducting field work, you must study in depth the theory and familiarize yourself with the group that you're going to infiltrate. Read and study hard. Only then can you create a credible identity that goes beyond all suspicion. It doesn’t matter if you have to shave your head, get circumcised or learn another language or another religion. You cannot make mistakes. If they suspect you are an insider and blow up your cover, you won’t get another chance.

Do you feel that investigative journalism is declining in the media, and shifting more to focus on entertainment and sports?

I don’t think so. I understand that for a TV station or newspaper, it is very hard to fund a six-year investigation. The entertainment stories, sports or political chronicles are easier and cheaper. But I think that the sales figures for my books, and audience rates for my documentaries demonstrate that investigative journalism can offer a competitive product to any media. And the proof is that there are amazing investigative journalists around the world making documentaries, reports and bestselling books. Our work is very similar to that of the police and spies, only their reports are intended for secret files for the Ministry of Defence or Internal Affairs, whilst ours are for the public. And the public wants to know what really happens in the world. Wikileaks was not the result of bad luck.