MADRID, Sept 21: Two Pakistani men were arrested in Spain on Thursday, accused of channelling 1 million euros ($1.40 million) to Muslim militants, Spanish police said.

A. Muhammad Shan and P. Mehmood Sandhu used money from drug trafficking to fund radical groups in Spain and abroad, a police statement said.

They were detained in Madrid and Barcelona after a three-year operation by Spanish National Police and the US Federal Bureau of Intelligence.

Shan and Sandhu used the so-called hawala financial transfer system that allows funds to be exchanged with a handshake, piece of paper or on trust and leaves few clues, Spanish police said. The arrests came on the same day as an Al Qaeda videotaped message urged North African Muslims to “cleanse” their land of Spaniards and French.

In the past year police have arrested around 20 suspected militants in mainland Spain and the country’s North African enclaves.—Reuters