SPANISH TERROR ARRESTS
MADRID: Spanish police said they had dismantled a ring suspected of financing the Al-Qa’ida terrorist group and arrested three men, including the top representative of Spain’s Muslim community.

Those detained were suspected of having “exploited an NGO to finance the activities of terrorist fighters”, police said in a statement.

The non-government organisation is said to have collected donations for orphaned children in Syria, but “a part” of the funds went instead to areas of Syria “controlled by Al-Qa’ida militias with the aim of supporting their fighters”, the statement said.

The head of the Islamic Commission of Spain, Mohammad Ayman Adlbi, was arrested as part of the operation and later released without charge, government and police sources said.

The arrests followed a twoyear police investigation.