13 persons were arrested by Spanish police on suspicion of links to organized crime and terrorism groups.
Police said that the detainees – 11 Pakistanis, one Nigerian, and one Indian, are suspected of belonging to an international crime gang involved in passport forgery, drug trafficking, and people smuggling. The group is also being investigated on whether or not the maybe have supplied forged documents to international terror groups, but police officials have refused to say if the group had yet been explicitly connected to “Islamic extremist organizations” or activity.
Most of the arrests took place in Barcelona, while the rest were carried out in Valencia. The group is reported to have made contacts in Belgium Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Thailand. The detainees allegedly stole passports in Spain and forwarded them to Thailand, where they were altered before being “sent back to crime gangs in Europe.”
