News / EU

Spanish police arrest 7 people accused of terrorism

Monday, 08 February 2016 12:23 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 08 February 2016 12:23 AM ]

A handout picture released on February 7, 2016 by Spanish National Police shows masked police officers taking an arrested person at an undisclosed location. (AFP)

At least seven suspected members of a terrorist cell believed to be working with Daesh and the Nusra Front in Syria, have been arrested in Spain.

Spanish police said in a Sunday statement they had uncovered an operation to smuggle arms to terrorists under the guise of humanitarian aid.

According to the statement, "five are Spanish nationals of Syrian, Jordanian, and Moroccan origin, and two are Syrian and Moroccan nationals.”

The arrests were carried out in the eastern cities of Valencia and Alicante and in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta.

One of those arrested was a man who sent "military material, money, electronic and transmission material, firearms and precursors for making explosives" to Syria and Iraq via a company.

Meanwhile, to the north of Europe, German police said on Sunday they searched the homes of two men suspected of having ties to "a terrorist group" in Syria.

The anti-terror raids took place near the western city of Mainz, police said, adding that the men were "suspected of having taken part in Syria's civil war as members of a foreign terrorist group," but named no specific group.

Police declined to say whether they had arrested the men or if any items were seized from their homes.

On Thursday, German officers arrested three Algerians suspected of having ties to terrorist groups operating in Syria following raids at several sites across Germany, including refugee shelters where some of the suspects lived.

*Police officers escort a man who was arrested in a flat during a raid on February 4, 2016 in Berlin.*

European states have been grappling with a growing number of their citizens trying to join terrorist groups in the Middle East over the past few years.

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