CAIRO (dpa): Spanish police have detained four people in an international operation against so-called hacktivists claiming to belong to the Anonymous collective, Europol and Spanish police sources said Tuesday. The suspects were held in Madrid and Malaga. Two of them were retained in custody, while another was freed on bail and the fourth one – a minor – was left in the custody of his parents. The investigation, which began in June, focused on attacks against websites of political parties, institutions and companies, as well as web defacements and denial-of-service attacks. The hackers also published personal information of Spanish police officers and bodyguards online. The group's secure communication channels used servers hosted by companies located in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, although they were remotely controlled from Spain. Once the judicial authorities in the two eastern European countries had approved the seizure of the servers, Europol experts were deployed to Bulgaria and Spain, the police organization said in a press release. Spanish police searched four addresses, seizing 25 computers and related materials. Ten suspects were also indicted in Argentina, six in Chile and five in Colombia, according to Spanish police sources. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/sC5vp Tags: Anonymous, Arrests, Spain Section: Europe, Latest News