Madrid, March 31 (IANS): A Moroccan couple and their two children were arrested on Tuesday morning in the eastern Catalonian city of Badalona by the Spanish Civil Guard for their alleged involvement in a network sending jihadis to Syria, Spain's interior ministry said.

The apprehended children were brothers, both under 16 years of age, according to the ministry, and were about to leave for Syria, via Morocco and Turkey, Spanish news agency Efe reported.

Investigations revealed that the two children were scheduled to actually leave on Tuesday morning from Badalona to Morocco, and they had already contacted members of the network to facilitate their trip through Turkey.

The brothers left their school in Badalona and were going to pursue Quranic studies in a religious school in the northern Moroccan city of Tetouan, while their family was completely aware that they would eventually be going to Syria.

The interior ministry reported that the mother of the children had another son who died in the Syrian conflict in 2014, after joining an Islamist terrorist group.