'Militants' charged in Morocco
2009-06-29 21:19
Rabat - Four suspected Islamic extremists were remanded in custody by Morocco's anti-terrorist court on Monday, following their arrest last week, the interior ministry said.
The men are suspected of belonging to an extremist cell close to the radical Salafiya Jihadia movement and of trafficking drugs between Spain and Morocco in a bid to raise money for terrorism through organised crime.
The four were charged by the court in Sale, outside Rabat, with belonging to a "criminal gang, preparation of terrorist acts, collecting funds for acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, car theft and falsifying vehicle registration documents".
They were accused of operating via the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the Moroccan coast.
Security sources claimed on Friday to have dismantled a terrorist cell with the arrests, adding that documents and tapes found in searches sought to legitimise al-Qaeda suicide operations and hostage executions.
The interior ministry made no mention of a fifth man arrested with the others. Three of the five arrested are brothers, Spanish nationals of Moroccan origin, the ministry said.
The men were not identified, but security sources said the cell leader of the cell uses the pseudonym Abou Yacine.
Abou Yacine was arrested in 2006 when another militant group, Ansar El Mahdi (Followers of the Mahdi), was broken up. Jailed for two years, he was freed in 2008.
- AFP