Belgium arrest man suspected of recruiting for al-Qaida
A man of Tunisian origin has been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of recruiting fighters for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
Tarek Maaroufi, 36, has been detained with another man in Brussels.
He has been charged with criminal association, forgery and recruiting for a foreign military organisation.
Asked by reporters if the organisation was al-Qaida, Jos Colpin, spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor's office, said: "We can assume that was the case."
Maaroufi, a Belgian citizen of Tunisian origin, has long been suspected of links to Islamic radical groups operating in Europe.
He received a three-year suspended sentence in a 1995 trial in Brussels of eight suspected members of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group.
Maaroufi was also wanted by Italian police, reportedly in connection with international inquiries into an alleged plot uncovered last year to bomb a Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg.
Maaroufi's arrest was also linked to an investigation by Belgian police into forged Belgian passports used by two suicide bombers who blew up Afghan opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massood two days before the September 11 attacks.
