Morocco arrests Swiss citizen over suspected links to murder of 2 foreign tourists

Moroccan security services have arrested a Swiss citizen over suspected links to the previously arrested people following the murdering of two foreign tourists in a mountainous area in central Morocco, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

According to a statement from the ministry, the suspect, who also holds a Spanish nationality and resides in Morocco, was arrested in the tourist hub of Marrakesh.

The statement said that the arrested man is suspected of being involved in providing training to other arrested people and engaging in the recruitment of Moroccan and sub-Saharan African citizens to terrorist organizations in Morocco.

The bodies of two women tourists, a Danish and a Norwegian, were found on Dec. 17 near the tourist village of Imlil, 60 kilometers away from the city of Marrakech.

The initial investigations revealed that the detainee holds "extremist and violent" ideology.

The authorities are probing the murdering as a "terrorist act" and some 20 people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing, including the four alleged murderers.

The last terrorist attack in Morocco dates back to April 2011, when a suspected suicide bomber blew apart a famous tourist cafe in Marrakech, killing 17 and wounding dozens of others.