Paris ? French anti-terror judges Friday placed 11 suspected Islamic extremists under investigation for allegedly financing terrorism, part of a probe into a group suspected of using robberies to fund its plots.

Judicial officials said the 11 also were placed under investigation – a step short of being charged – for criminal association with a terrorist enterprise, a broad charge often used in France to detain terror suspects.

The 11 were among 25 suspects rounded up in police raids Monday. The 14 others were released without charge.

Among those who appeared in court Friday was Ouassini Cherifi, a French-Algerian suspected of heading the group. Cherifi, 31, was convicted in 2002 of trafficking phony passports.

Investigators are trying to establish a link between Cherifi and a March 2004 attack on a Brink’s truck that yielded more than $1.2 million. The funds were allegedly meant to finance the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, an organization with alleged ties to al-Qaida that was blamed for the 2003 Casablanca attacks that killed 45 people.