22 April 2005

GENEVA - Switzerland extradited to Spain a suspected Islamic extremist wanted for allegedly leading a bomb plot against senior magistrates.

Mohamed Achraf, who was arrested in Switzerland last October, was flown to Madrid escorted by three Spanish police officers, the Swiss federal justice office said in a statement.

Spanish authorities believe Achraf, who is an Algerian national, was a member of a terror group plotting an attack on Spain's highest criminal court.

Achraf was detained in September 2004 in Zurich on unrelated immigration charges, after going underground about a year earlier following a failed asylum bid, according to Swiss authorities.

He was known to have been using several different identities, according to investigators.

Switzerland's supreme court had opened the way for his extradition earlier this month by rejecting Achraf's appeal against the Swiss government's decision in January to hand him over to Spain.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news