MADRID: Spanish police have arrested six Pakistanis and a Nigerian suspected of providing forged passports to organisations linked to Al Qaeda, including the group accused of plotting the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Three others – two Pakistanis and a Thai national – were held in Thailand as part of the same Operation Kampai, which “neutralised a vast cell that helped provide passports for Al Qaeda”, it said in a statement.
Spanish police detained the seven suspects in raids in and around the northeastern city of Barcelona, which has a large Pakistani community, late on Tuesday.
The gang stole documents, including passports, which were sent to Thailand to be forged and then delivered to Al Qaeda-linked “terrorist groups”, in particular the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba that has been accused of plotting the Mumbai attacks, the ministry said.
