Al Qaeda suspect videoed WTC

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Four suspected al Qaeda terrorists have been remanded in custody by a Spanish judge.

Judge Baltasar Garzon said one of them had shot video tapes of U.S. landmarks "that could have been preliminary information for attacks on the World Trade Center towers."

In a 12-page order, Garzon wrote that the videos of the WTC towers, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and other landmarks -- videotaped during a 1997 trip -- were "possibly were given to al Qaeda operatives."

Spain currently holds 21 suspected Islamic terrorists. In addition, since Sept. 11 several other suspects have been arrested but later released and not charged.

The judge identified the suspect who made the videotapes as Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, a Spanish citizen of Syrian origin who was first detained last April, but quickly released, and then arrested again last Tuesday, in Madrid.

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Garzon linked him to the Sept. 11 attacks, along with another suspect remanded to jail, Mohamed Khair Al Saqq. He is a Syrian national who was arrested on Tuesday in the eastern city of Castellon.

The other two men ordered to jail were not linked to the Sept. 11 attacks, but were being held because of their alleged links to al Qaeda.

They were identified as Abdalrahman Alarnaot Abu-Aljer, who was arrested on Tuesday in Madrid, and Kamal Hadid Chaar, arrested in the same city on the following day. Both are Spanish citizens of Syrian origin.

The judge heard hours of testimony from the four before issuing the ruling. The hearing is preliminary and will allow Spanish authorities to keep the men in jail while their investigation continues. The men have not been indicted by the judge.

Most of the 21 are suspected al Qaeda members. Others belong to other Islamic terrorist groups, Spanish officials have said.

Garzon has taken a leading role in the probe of al Qaeda's activities in Spain.

Authorities have previously told CNN that Spain was considered a staging ground for al Qaeda to finance, recruit and provide lodging for terrorist operatives who might carry out attacks elsewhere.

Mohamed Atta, a Sept. 11 hijacker who is considered a linchpin of the attacks, visited Spain in July 2001, and police think he may have met other conspirators during his trip.

Police seized Ghalyoun's home videos of U.S. landmark buildings and installations at the time of his brief arrest last April and had been keeping him under surveillance since that time, they said.

He recorded "installations and monuments that are considered to be symbols of the life and culture" of the United States and "which have been or are terrorist objectives of al Qaeda," the ministry said in a written statement earlier this week.

"Two of the tapes are made exclusively, from various angles and distances, of the Twin Towers in New York," the statement said.

"The same occurs with the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, whose support pillars get great attention in the videos. Similar cases are the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and interior and exteriors of a New York airport, as well as the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Disneyland and Universal Studio theme parks in California."

Law enforcement officials told CNN Ghalyoun had been kept under police surveillance since his release in April.

The Interior Ministry statement said Abu-Aljer received training in Bosnia with other Islamic fighters during the Bosnian war.

He is also linked to Mohamed Setmarian Nasar, who ran a training camp in Afghanistan and who is wanted internationally as a leader of al Qaeda.

Another suspect, Al Saqq, left Syria because of his links to an organisation called Muslim Brothers, the statement said. "He is implicated in the financial activities" of al Qaeda in Spain.

Only four months after the 1997 visit to the United States of Ghalyoun, Al Saqq received a visit from Mohamed Bahaiah, a well-known messenger/courier for Osama bin Laden, operating between Europe and Afghanistan.

A law enforcement official told CNN the arrest in Castellon was significant because officials are investigating whether a pre-Sept. 11 summit may have occurred there.

U.S. and Spanish authorities previously disclosed that Atta had visited eastern Spain not far from Castellon in July 2001, two months before the attacks.

Authorities have said several other alleged conspirators also visited eastern Spain about the same time as Atta, and there have been unconfirmed reports that two or more conspirators may have met there.

--CNN Correspondent Charles Feldman contributed to this report.