Spain arrests 4 suspects 'linked to Paris attacks'

By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID (AA) - Police arrested four people with suspected links to a people-smuggling network that was allegedly used by Daesh to infiltrate terrorists into Europe, including those who carried out the Paris attacks in 2015, police said in a statement Monday.

According to police, an investigation revealed that suspects had been in contact with a terror suspect in Salzburg in Austria, who was allegedly helping Daesh carry out the November attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

Police said they would continue to investigate whether contacts between the suspects were related to the Paris terrorism plot or if they were only involved in a people-smuggling ring which brought nearly 200 people to the Greek Island of Leros in October 2015.

The alleged smuggling ring ran along a common route for Syrian refugees, passing through Turkey and eastern Europe. Police suspect it aided four terrorists sent by Daesh to take part in the Paris attacks, according to El Pais. Two of the suspects, however, were arrested in Austria before they made it to France.

A recently-released report by the Moroccan Center for Strategic Studies estimates that up to 450 Spanish citizens or residents have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join Daesh over the last two years.

On Sunday, police detained a man in Madrid’s airport who was suspected of trying to make his way to Syria to fight with Daesh.