The Hindu : Front Page : 7 held in Spain for suspected terror links

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7 held in Spain for suspected terror links

Madrid: Six Pakistanis and a Nigerian, suspected of providing forged passports to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and groups linked to the al-Qaeda and, in particular, to those behind the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, were arrested by the Spanish police, the country's interior ministry said on Wednesday.

Three others — two Pakistanis and a Thai national — were held in Thailand as part of “Operation Kampai,” it said.

Officers detained the suspects in raids in and around the north-eastern city of Barcelona late on Tuesday.

Forgery

The gang stole documents such as passports, sent them to Thailand for forging and then delivered them to groups linked to the al-Qaeda, in particular to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been accused of plotting the Mumbai attacks, the ministry said.

The gang also supplied such documents to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the statement said.

“In total, seven people have been arrested in Barcelona [six Pakistanis and a Nigerian], all for belonging to a cell that provided documentation for terror organisations linked to the al-Qaeda,” it said.

The international structure was led by a Pakistani citizen living in Thailand, who has been detained. He directed the cells based in Europe, decided the features of the passports and, once they were received in Bangkok, supplied them to different terror groups.

During the investigation, which began a year-and-half ago, police “detected a number of stolen passports taken from Spain to Thailand, which were stolen almost entirely in the province of Barcelona from tourists who met the requirements stipulated by the “World Islamic Front,” in order to be used by members of different terrorist cells linked to the al-Qaeda,” the statement said. — AFP

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