By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Madrid : At least three suspected members of the Al Qaeda terrorist group have been arrested and explosives and poisonous substances that could be used in terrorist attacks recovered from them by the Spanish police, according to Spain’s interior ministry.
The arrests were made Wednesday.
Police believe the suspects – two Chechens and a Turk – may have been planning “to commit terrorist acts in Spain”. The Turk was arrested in the La Linea town, while the other suspects were picked up from the central town of Ciudad Real.
The two Chechens were taking a bus from southern Cadiz to the northern town of Irun and could have been heading to France, Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters Thursday. The two had been in Spain for around two months.
The minister said that enough explosive material was found in the house in La Linea to blow up a bus, and the substance could be especially dangerous if combined with shrapnel.
The arrests were made in an operation performed jointly with the intelligence services of Spain’s allies.