“The ministry had said the men arrested Tuesday were suspected of recruiting people to send to jihadist training camps in Africa.”
From Agence France-Presse:
MADRID: Spain’s Interior Ministry said Friday police had arrested a Moroccan man in Barcelona suspected of having links to Al-Qaeda, three days after three other Moroccans were detained for the same reason. The ministry said the man arrested Friday was
“presumed linked to the Al-Qaeda cell dismantled this week.” The ministry had said the men
arrested Tuesday were suspected of recruiting people to send to jihadist training camps in
Africa. Morocco is seeking the trio’s extradition, the ministry said, adding they were thought to belong to an Al-Qaeda group which claimed responsibility for more than 30 deaths in attacks in Algeria. Al-Qaeda-linked fighters are being trained in countries in the Sahel region such as Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
This week’s arrests follow an investigation launched in 2005 after Morocco dismantled a militant network with branches in Spain. The Algerian-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat changed its name late last year after it rebranded itself the North African branch of Al-Qaeda.