SPANISH police today said they have dismantled a gang that cloned credit cards, led by an Algerian previously jailed for helping finance the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

Police said they arrested 19 people in Madrid who specialised in making illegal credit cards by getting people’s data – such as pin numbers – on the darknet and transferring it to other cards.

They would then withdraw money from cash points or buy items in stores, said police in a statement.

The leader of the gang, a 49-year-old Algerian man whose name was not revealed, had used the same process to help finance the September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

A police spokesman said the man had been tried and convicted in Spain, adding that she does not know how long he had served time in jail before he was released.

This time, she said, he was cloning credit cards for personal benefit.

Spain was the scene of a high-security mass trial in 2005 of alleged September 11 plotters, with 24 al-Qaeda suspects taking the stand, 18 of whom were jailed.

It is unclear whether the Algerian gang leader was among them, or was convicted separately.

Spain was also the scene of a key meeting in the north-eastern city of Tarragona just months before the attacks, which Mohamed Atta, the pilot ringleader of the September 11 hijackers, attended.

It is believed that those who attended the meeting had finalised preparations for the US attacks, including deciding the date. – AFP, November 3, 2018.