Sal – Arms seized during a swoop on an alleged extremist cell entered the country from Algeria, a Moroccan security official charged on Monday.
“Those arrested were awaiting the arrival of a Syrian expert to train them in making explosives they planned to use against public figures and places,” Abdelhak El Khayyam, head of Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation, told AFP.
“The weapons came from Algeria,” he said.
The interior ministry said at the weekend it had dismantled a “terrorist” cell, arresting five people in different towns across the kingdom.
It said they were also in possession of weapons.
The cell, reportedly calling itself Soldiers of the Caliphate in Morocco, was a splinter group of the Algerian extremist Jund al-Khilafa organisation, according to Khayyam.
Authorities in Rabat have moved to counter what is seen as a growing jihadist threat by imposing heavier punishments – including up to 10 years in jail – for those found guilty of involvement in terrorism-related activities.
