30/05/2014 17:41
Spain arrests 6 suspected of recruiting for terror groups
Swooping in at 4 o'clock in the morning, Spanish police arrested six Spanish men on suspicion of recruiting and sending 26 radical Islamic fighters for terrorist groups in Syria, Mali and Libya, the Interior Ministry said Friday, according to CNN.
The arrests came in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, on Morocco's north coast, where a Spaniard and two Frenchmen were arrested just last March on similar charges.
The suspected leader in the cell disrupted on Friday had returned to Spain after fighting in Syria and training in a terrorist camp in northern Mali, the Interior Ministry said.
The movement of Islamic militants from Europe and North Africa to conflict zones such as Syria, Mali or Libya -- and their eventual return to Spain to potentially carry out terrorist attacks -- has been a prime concern for authorities battling terrorism.
The cell disrupted on Friday had recruited and sent at least 24 Moroccans and two Spaniards to conflict zones, according to authorities. But it was planning to expand its activities, to acquire weapons and manuals for preparing explosives, the Interior Ministry said, "which would have increased their level of danger, turning them into a serious threat to national security."