National Court judge Jose de la Mata on Tuesday lifted a secrecy order in the case, announcing it had found evidence of various crimes, including trespassing, injuries, threats and burglary committed by “a criminal organization” at the embassy in a leafy northern Madrid neighbourhood. He identified a Mexican, an American and a South Korean as main suspects in the case.
The court document said Hong Chang flew to the U.S. on Feb. 23, where he got in touch with the FBI and offered to share material and videos with federal investigators. The Spanish investigation didn't say what the content of the material was, or whether the FBI accepted it.The FBI said in a statement that its standard practice is not to confirm nor deny the existence of investigations but added that “the FBI enjoys a strong working relationship with our Spanish law enforcement partners.
The assailants purchased knives and handgun mock-ups when they visited Madrid in early February, according to the investigation, and later used them for the attack. When confronted by Spanish police officers who went to check on the embassy, Hong Chang posed as an embassy official and said everything was normal. That paved the way for the group's escape in the embassy's cars.