Spain detains seven over Al Qaeda collaboration

BARCELONA - Spanish police have detained seven people in connection with Islamist terrorism, it was confirmed Wednesday.

The detainees were suspected of cooperating with Al Qaeda and related organisations. Two of the group’s flatmates were also held on charges of residing illegally in Spain, police said.

They were arrested in the Barcelona area late Tuesday and Wednesday. They included Pakistanis and one Nigerian, the interior ministry said.

The group believed to have targeted tourists visiting Barcelona, stealing passports that were sent to Thailand to be falsified.

The fake passports were then distributed to groups linked with Al Qaeda in several other countries. The groups included the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, believed to have been behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 180 people.

The detainees apparently received orders from a Pakistani living in Bangkok, from where he managed a network based in Spain and other European countries, the ministry said.

Thai police arrested two Pakistanis and a Thai citizen, the ministry added.

Arrests linked to the case were also made in other European countries, according to the daily El Pais.

At least 12 people have been detained in Spain so far this year in connection with Islamist terrorism.