Spain raids homes in Ripoll as more details about imam emerge

Spanish police raided more homes in the town Ripoll on Monday, regional interior minister Joaquim Forn says, amid a hunt for the driver in the deadly Barcelona van attack, as they seek to gather clues about a Moroccan imam accused of radicalizing the terror cell.

Police say Imam Abdelbaki Es Satty had spent time in prison and had once been in contact with a suspect wanted on terrorism charges, without giving further details.

In Belgium, the mayor of the Vilvorde region tells AFP that Satty spent time in the Brussels suburb of Machelen — a district next to the city’s airport — between January and March 2016.

In the Moroccan town of M’rirt, relatives of Barcelona van driver suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub accuse the imam of radicalizing the young man as well as his brother Houssein.

— AFP