American al-Qaidafinancier arrested

A US citizen of Algerian origin suspected of financing al-Qaida's North African offshoot has been arrested in Spain, officials said yesterday.

Mohamed Omar Debhi, 43, was arrested near Barcelona.

He is suspected of laundering money and sending some of it to an associate in Algeria, Toufik Mizi, for it to be passed on to al-Qaida cells.

Mizi is wanted in Spain after escaping a police raid in 2008.

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