Spain arrests: No connection with 26/11 Mumbai attacks, say sources

The six Pakistanis and an African national arrested in Spain do not appear to have any links with the Mumbai terror attacks and they are suspected to have indulged only in a racket of supplying fake documents.

Sources in the home ministry quoting preliminary information coming from Barcelona, where the seven persons have been arrested, said that as per a communication the group is however believed to have connection with terror outfit "al-Qaeda" though no evidence has surfaced so far.

The presumption of the Spanish police seems to be merely on suspicion and no documents suggest that they used to work for terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT), a group which was responsible for carrying out the terror strike in Mumbai in 2008 that left 166 people dead.

India had sought information from Spain on the arrest of six Pakistanis and one Nigerian who were alleged to have provided forged passports to LeT and groups linked to al-Qaeda.

The information about the busted terror cell, the arrested men, their activities and photographs had been sought from Spain through diplomatic channels.

Indian intelligence agencies had been told to be in touch with their international counterparts to get information about the activities of the arrested men.

"Our primary  objective was to get the identities of these men established and then find out their precise roles in terror activities and if they had any hand in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks," an official said, adding, however, there seems to be no evidence to link them with the carnage.

The six Pakistanis and a Nigerian were arrested recently in the Spanish city of Barcelona for their suspected role in providing forged passports to LeT and groups linked to al-Qaeda.

Three others - two Pakistanis and a Thai national -were held in Thailand as part of the same Operation Kampai.

Two Pakistani nationals - 60-year-old Mohammad Yaqub Janjua and his son 31-year-old Aamer Yaqub Janjua - were arrested by the Italian police last year for allegedly transferring money for the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

The two were arrested in Brescia and were accused of aiding and abetting international terrorism as well as illegal financial activity. The Madina Trading agency, which operated on the Western Union money transfer circuit, was searched by police in Italy.

However, they were released on bail and are believed to have been deported even before Indian security officials could come and question them.