[Al Arabiya Latest] Italy's top security official said Friday that authorities have smashed an international terror cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in Europe of 17 Algerians who were raising money to finance terrorism.Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, speaking to reporters in Rome, called the terror cell "significant."
"An Algerian terror cell that gathered money for terrorist activities outside of Europe has been dismantled," Maroni said.
"We have proceeded with the arrest of six people in Italy and 17 in total," Maroni said.
Italian police said a judge in Milan has issued a total of 17 arrest warrants for suspects in Algeria, Austria, Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Spain but could not confirm whether all the suspects outside Italy had been apprehended.
At least one of the accused featured on a United Nations anti-terrorism blacklist, police said.
The investigation, started in 2007, showed the ring had a turnover of one million euros ($1.50 million) over three years and had counterfeited identity documents of Algerian professional footballers playing in Europe.
Italian authorities have periodically launched round-ups of North Africans accused of links to terrorist groups but so far the Mediterranean country has avoided any major attacks.
Last month, a 35-year-old Libyan man tried unsuccessfully to bomb a Milan army barracks, losing an arm and both eyes and slightly wounding an Italian army corporal who prevented him from approaching the building.
The man, who wanted Italian to pull out of Afghanistan, had accomplices and belonged to a group that had more explosives ready, police said.