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PARIS, France -- French anti-terror police have arrested 12 men in Paris under anti-terrorism laws, authorities say.

Court spokeswoman Maryvonne Caillebot said Tuesday the 12 would be held in custody for four days while the charges were assessed.

The suspects are thought to be linked to radical religious groups, possibly Islamic, but Caillebot would not give further details about them.

She said police suspect they were using legitimate businesses to raise money for militant combatants overseas. During the arrests, police confiscated material for manufacturing false documents, a pistol and a computer disk.

Caillebot also said a mosque in the Levallois Perret area of northwest Paris was under investigation as it changed hands to a more radical Islamic group, but she would.

The raids were conducted as part of a preliminary inquiry launched by Paris anti-terrorist magistrates, one source told Reuters without giving further details.

The news agency said it had seen an Italian detention warrant last week that included transcribed telephone conversations in which suspects discussed the Paris metro, security details and a "martyr" referred to as Mohammed.

But French police said there was no proof an attack was being planned on the Paris metro system, which has been targeted by extremists before.

In July 1995, a bomb attack killed eight people and wounded 150 at the St Michel metro and suburban rail station. Algerian extremists were blamed.

And in April this year, the system was evacuated due to a false bomb alert following a tip-off by the Spanish intelligence service to French counterparts.