Madrid, Jan 25 (IANS) Spanish authorities have said that six of the 14 people arrested last week were planning to attack Barcelona’s public transport system, EFE news agency reported Friday.
The police Jan 18 arrested 14 people – 12 Pakistanis and two Indians – in the Barcelona neighbourhood of El Raval, on a tip off that they had links with Islamist terror groups.
Attorney general Candido Conde-Pumpido told a press conference Thursday that three of the detained and identified as Mohammed Shoaib, Mehmooh Khalib and Imran Cheema have been charged with planning the suicide attacks. He did not disclose their nationality.
Conde-Pumpido said that authorities had confiscated from the arrested men highly explosive nitrocellulose, timers, wiring and shrapnels.
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said that the alleged members of the jehadist group arrested in Barcelona had in their possession material with which they could carry out attacks.
He confirmed that prior information by a “protected witness” had led to the arrests.
On March 11, 2004, militants detonated backpack bombs on four Madrid commuter trains during rush hour, leaving nearly 200 dead and more than 1,800 injured in Spain’s worst terrorist incident.