Spanish police on Tuesday arrested a suspected member of al-Qaida who was key to the terror group's Internet propaganda and recruiting operations, the interior minister said.

The suspect was arrested in the eastern city of Valencia as part of a probe that determined the man used the Web to distribute videos designed to encourage terrorist acts, the ministry said in a statement Associated Press reported.

Minister Jorge Fernandez told reporters the man, who was not named, is Jordanian-born but holds Saudi citizenship.

Fernandez said the raid in which he was arrested was not linked to the case in Toulouse, France, in which a self-proclaimed jihadist killed seven people before being killed last week after a long standoff with French police.

Spain says the Valencia arrest stems from a probe that began in February 2011. The suspect was arrested on orders from an investigating magistrate in Madrid