15 arrested in Spain over Al-Qaida links: reports

MADRID – Spanish police have arrested 15 people suspected of forging passports and other documents for Al-Qaida, news reports said Tuesday.

Cadena SER radio and other media outlets said at least 10 people were arrested in the northeastern city of Barcelona.

Police in the city confirmed an operation was in progress but could not give details.

SER radio said the suspects were from North African countries. It said no explosives had been found and that police were searching for a printer used to forge passports.

Elsewhere, four Indians and one Pakistani were arrested in the eastern town of Mislata as part of same operation, a police spokeswoman in the nearby regional capital of Valencia said. She spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with department regulations.

Dozens of suspected radical Islamic militants have been arrested in Spain since the 11 September 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, and again after the commuter train bombings in 2004 in Madrid.

On 20 January, six Pakistanis were arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of tax fraud and diverting funds to Islamic terror groups. They were released days later for lack of evidence.

[AP / Expatica]