Spanish police arrested 10 Pakistanis suspected of involvement in extremism during an operation in the northeastern region of Catalonia on Wednesday, judicial sources said. However, the sources said the arrests were not related to the March 11 attacks in Madrid that left nearly 200 people dead.
"An operation was launched against extremists and several people were detained," a spokesman for Catalonia regional police said when contacted by telephone from the capital.
Judicial sources in Madrid said the suspects were arrested "for Islamic terrorism" and said all were of Pakistani origin.
Twenty suspects have been arrested in relations to the March 11 attacks. Most are Moroccans and none was a Pakistani national.
A police spokesman told AFP that the Pakistani suspects "could have financed radical organisations outside Spain's borders."