Spain: 4 Indians held for al Qaeda links

New Delhi, Feb 4: Reports suggest that a group of masked police officers arrested a suspected radical Islamic militant group in Spain. Sources said that police have arrested about 13 people allegedly belonging to an international crime organisation involved in passport forgery. The arrested persons include four Indians and one Pakistani.

Arrests happened in Barcelona and Valencia. Sources said that some of the detained people are also reportedly having links with top Islamic extremist groups like al Qaeda. Police also seized false and blank passports and materials used for forging documents.

Police sources said in a statement released later that the group reportedly stole passports in Spain and forwarded them to Thailand, where they were reportedly altered before sending them to crime gangs in Europe. Investigation is also on to know whether these group supplied such documents to international 'terrorists' organisations.

Since the 2004 bomb attacks on commuter trains in Madrid, Spanish police have carried out numerous raids against the suspected extremists.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)