Spanish police arrested three suspected members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group on Wednesday, confiscating explosives and poisonous substances that could be used in terrorist attacks, Spain's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Police believe the suspects – two Chechens and a Turkish citizen – may have been planning "to commit terrorist acts in Spain." The Turk was arrested in the southern town of La Linea, while the other suspects were picked up in 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 on Thursday. The pair had been in Spain for around two months.
Diaz 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. Diaz called the arrests "one of the most important operations carried out against al-Qaeda," adding that it was performed jointly with the intelligence services of Spain's allies.
