SPAIN: Jamal Zougam, the Moroccan arrested in Spain on suspicion of involvement in the Madrid terrorist atrocity, spent his childhood in Tangiers' bustling casbah, where he had a distant view of the coast of Spain - a land of promise for many Moroccans.
He would make the crossing several times, the first time as a 10-year-old. The last time he made the trip to Spain was nearly a year ago. By then, authorities believe, he had spent years in radical Islamic circles.
The 30-year-old is being held along with four other suspects - his half brother Mohamed Chaoui, another Moroccan and two Indians - in connection with the Madrid train bombings that killed 201 people last week.
Among them, Jamal Zougam has generated the most interest. Moroccan officials believe he has links to al-Qaeda.
In 1983, Zougam's mother took him and his older half brother, Chaoui, to Spain.
Years later, as young men, they would open a shop together, repairing mobile phones in Madrid. In 2002, they were joined by Mohammed Bekkali, another Tangiers native and the third Moroccan suspect connected to the bombings.
Mr Zougam was described by a friend yesterday as a "modern" Muslim with a penchant for fashionable clothes. "Jamal is the kind of guy who'd walk around in a Lacoste T-shirt in the summer. He liked to wear good labels. He was very modern, but he didn't drink alcohol," said Abdul, 28, who said he had known Mr Zougam for some seven years.
"He was religious, we're all religious," he said, adding that Mr Zougam did not seem a fanatic.
More than 400,000 Moroccans are believed to live in Spain, where they often have more opportunities than at home. Some risk their lives to cross the treacherous Strait of Gibraltar in small boats.
Moroccans who head to Spain often find work in agriculture or construction.
For his job, Mr Zougam had business contacts in both Madrid and Tangiers, where he began frequenting radical Islamic circles in 1993. Northern Morocco has strong Islamic militant networks.
Mr Zougam was recruited by the Spanish cell of al-Qaeda, a high-ranking Moroccan official said. The man believed to have recruited him - Abdelaziz Benyaich, a dual French-Moroccan citizen - was arrested in Spain last year in connection with suicide bombings in another Moroccan city, Casablanca.
Those attacks killed 45 people, including a dozen bombers, on May 16th, and were blamed on Salafia Jihadia, a secretive, radical Islamic group.
The last time Mr Zougam was believed to have left Morocco was on April 20th, 2003, just weeks before the Casablanca bombings. - (AP/Reuters)