Morocco arrests brother of top Islamist group member

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco has arrested the brother of a prominent figure in the country's main Islamist opposition group on suspicion of belonging to a hashish smuggling ring, police said on Saturday.

They said the arrested man was the brother of Nadia Yassine, the daughter of the founder of the anti-monarchist Al Adl wal Ihsane (Justice and Charity), Morocco's most powerful Islamist opposition with an estimated 200,000-strong membership.

An Al Adl official declined comment on the arrest of the suspected trafficker since the group was not implicated in the case, but said authorities naming the detained man as Yassine's brother was an "attempt to stain the image of the movement".

"An influential member of an international drugs network was arrested on Friday in Tetouan area. He has been identified as the brother of Nadia Yassine, an activist in al Adl wal Ihsane fundamentalist movement," the paramilitary police royal gendamerie said in a statement.

It said authorities moved to detain the 32-year-old man named as A.H after he allegedly kidnapped a member of a rival hashish ring for his role in "foiling an attempt to smuggle several tonnes of hashish to Europe".

Morocco has stepped up its crackdown on hashish production and smuggling in the past two years, fearing drug traffickers might link up with radical Islamists and threaten the country's stability.