[5] The GICM was founded in the 1990s by Moroccan recruits from al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and former Mujahideen veterans from the Soviet–Afghan War.

[1][4] The group gained its finances from criminal activities such as robberies, extortions, document forgery, illegal drug trade and arms trafficking through North Africa and Europe.

[1][4][7][8] One early cell affiliated with the group was responsible for killing two Spanish tourists at the Atlas Asni Hotel in Marrakesh in August 1994.

[1][2] A large part of the GICM's membership was drawn from the Moroccan diaspora in Western Europe, where it was involved in a number of terrorist plots.

[1][2][4] The European organization is thought to have been led by British national Mohammed al-Guerbouzi, who in 2001 was arrested by Iranian authorities and extradited to the United Kingdom, and later sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in Morocco for his role in the 2003 Casablanca bombings.

[22] According to the Federal Police of Brazil, GICM is one of seven Islamic terrorist groups active in the country, and in the border area with Argentina and Paraguay.

[7] Mohamed Moumou (aka Abu Qaswarah), second-in-command of Al-Qaida in Iraq was originally a key member of the GICM.

[1][7] The group was removed from the United States' list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2013, seemingly confirming its complete dissolution as an entity by that point.