Suspects have links with al-Qaeda
Twenty-seven suspected terrorists recently arrested in southern Morocco have ties to an Al-Qaeda-linked regional offshoot and to Europe-based groups, Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui said Wednesday.
"This network has links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and to terrorist groups based in Europe," he told a press conference.
He said four of the suspects were arrested near the Algerian-Moroccan border.
According to experts, AQIM bases are spread across Algeria, Mauritania and Mali.
Cherkaoui said he could not identify the suspects nor say exactly when they were arrested so as not to hinder the investigation as there could be other accomplices.
The minister said the network had planned bank robberies in Casablanca and Rabat "to finance its terrorist actions."
And he said "33 Kalashnikovs, 3 sub-machine guns, four rocket-launchers and a large quantity of ammunition were seized" during the police operation near the town of Amgala, 220 kilometers (130 miles) from Laayoune, capial of Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara.
Tuesday, the interior ministry said the network was led by "a Moroccan national who is a member of AQIM and who wanted to create a rear base in the country for terror attacks."
The arrests come within the recent campaign launched by the Moroccan government against the militant cells operating in the country.
Few days ago, security forces arrested a six-member terrorist cell that belonged to fundamental Jihadists operating in Morocco.