REPORT: Spaniard Led Moroccans to Dynamite

Saturday, March 20, 2004
(7:41 AM ET)
By Daniel Woolls

Associated Press Writer

On Friday, a Spanish judge jailed the Zougam and two other Moroccans on 190 counts of murder. That reflects the number of bodies identified so far. Two Indians were jailed on charges of collaborating with a terrorist group. The judge's order stops short of a formal indictment and means the suspects can be held for up to two years while police gather more evidence.

A Spanish man reads some of the messages placed outside of the Atocha railway station in Madrid, Spain, Friday, March 19, 2004. One week after the train bombings that killed over 200 people and wounded more than 1,800, the once boisterous capital of Spain is in silence and struggles to get back to normality.

Image Credit: Fernando Llano -- AP

MADRID, Spain -- AP
A Spaniard with a criminal record led four Moroccans to an explosives warehouse at a mine to steal dynamite used in the Madrid terror bombings, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The unidentified Spaniard, a former miner in the northern Asturias region, was among four people arrested Thursday. He insisted he only led the Moroccans to the warehouse and did not help with the robbery, El Pais reported, quoting police sources.

The Spaniard, who has a record for drug and weapons possession, said he did not know the Moroccans were linked to a terrorist group, El Pais reported. The Moroccans remain at large and have not been identified, it said.

Interior Ministry officials were not available to comment on the report.

The Spaniard told police he had met the four Moroccans in January in a bar in the Lavapies district of Madrid, El Pais said.

That's where key suspect Jamal Zougam had a cell phone store to which police have traced a cell phone and prepaid card found attached to a bomb that failed to explode on March 11, when 202 people were killed and 1,800 wounded in bomb attacks on commuter trains in the Spanish capital.

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Dan