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One of those being held is the suspected organiser of the fraud, which used stock market operations and forgery to pump up the share price of a British company, Spain's interior ministry said in a statement. Police said the Serious Crime Office alleged the massive swindle began in 2003 and involved the fraudulent sale of shares in a fictitious company which had assets totalling £370 million when it began trading on the LSE's AIM market in 2005.
The arrests were made in Madrid, Alicante and Barcelona. Spanish National Radio reported that one of those arrested was an agent for Mossad - the Israeli intelligence service.
Four men were arrested in Barcelona and one each in Madrid and Elche, just inland from the Costa Blanca near Alicante, in south-east Spain. Five of those held are Spanish and the other comes from Argentina.
As well as the arrests Spanish detectives also seized a large quantity of documents and several computers
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