Madrid ( CNN ) -- The alleged leader of an Islamic militant cell in Spain who escaped arrest in June when eight of his suspected colleagues were detained has been taken into custody , the Spanish Interior Ministry said Monday . The suspect , Yassin Ahmed Laarbi , a Spaniard , was arrested Monday in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Morocco 's north coast , where the eight other suspects also were detained on June 21 , an Interior Ministry statement said . The suspected cell was `` a structure based in Spain , with connections in Morocco , Belgium , Turkey and Syria , dedicated to radicalizing , recruiting and sending mujahedeen ( fighters ) to Syria with the aim of conducting jihad and achieving martyrdom , '' according to a court order issued in June . In that order , Judge Ismael Moreno of Spain 's National Court ruled that the eight suspected Islamic militants should remain in prison on preliminary charges alleging membership in a terrorist group . The group has connections to the Jabhat al-Nusra front , described as an active al Qaeda group in and around Syria , and to the Iraq Islamic State in Iraq , but `` there are increasing references to carrying out jihad at home , '' the judge warned at the time , referring to potential attacks in Spain . Read more : Spain arrests suspects linked to al Qaeda . The eight suspects sent at least 12 Spanish or Moroccan males , from both Ceuta and Morocco , to fight in Syria , the judge wrote . At least five died in suicide attacks in Syria that caused numerous casualties . One of the males was a minor ; it was not immediately clear if he was among those who had died . Some of the eight suspects intended to go to Syria , the judge added . Monday 's Interior Ministry statement said that Laarbi also `` was a candidate to join up with those terrorist groups in Syria . '' He was not at his home June 21 when the other suspects were arrested , the statement said . The judge 's order in June identified the suspected leader as Spaniard Karin Abdeselam Mohamed , 39 . But the Interior Ministry statement on Monday said Laarbi was the `` suspected maximum leader '' of the cell . Spanish police in June said the suspected cell was based in Ceuta and in the nearby Moroccan city of Fnideq . Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain that borders Morocco .
Eight other suspected colleagues were arrested in June . Suspected leader of group taken into custody in Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Moroccan border . Suspects have sent fighters into Syria , court report says .