According to the police the men were heading towards the Libyan capital Tripoli, on board a merchant vessel when they were arrested.
“We are certain that these men belong to the Al Qaeda,” Santi Giuffre, Chief of police for the Sicilian province of Caltanissetta, told a news conference.
“We have found documents which would prove the accusations,” he said.
Giuffre said that the police had seized telephone numbers, including several in Spain and France, which linked the arrested men to the Al Qaeda.
The men had also used codenames
and code-words in their conversations which raised suspicions of an Al
Qaeda connection, Giuffre said. - Reuters