Several people with "evil intentions" were arrested in South Africa five days before the elections last month, leading to the arrests of al-Qaeda suspects internationally, the Star newspaper reported today.

Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi told the National Assembly's safety and security committee yesterday, "We arrested some people who had evil intentions against this country - we did not tell anybody - five days before the election. We got these people to leave."

The South African operation sparked arrests of suspects linked to al-Qaeda in Jordan, Syria and Britain, Selebi said.

"The result is that you saw in Jordan, in and around those days, a number of people arrested who were called Al-Qaeda. A number of people were arrested in Syria as a result of our operation.

"In part of this operation, in London, the British police found boxes and boxes of South African passports in the home of one of these people... ," Selebi said.

Selebi made these remarks to the committee as an example of the battle faced by government in stamping out corruption in the Department of Home Affairs, the Star reported. - Sapa