Intelligence

Key London bombs suspect arrested in Zambia

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Philippe Naughton, Times Online

Haroon Rashid Aswat

A senior British al-Qaeda operative sought by authorities since the July 7 bombing attacks on London has been arrested in Zambia.

The Los Angeles Times reported today that Haroon Rashid Aswat, a 30-year-old of Indian descent who grew up in West Yorkshire, was arrested last week and is being held in Lusaka, where both British and US anti-terrorism investigators have travelled.

British officials confirmed the report, but would not immediately elaborate. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are seeking consular access to a British national who is reported to be in custody in Zambia."

Aswat, whose associations with al-Qaeda date back ten years, is believed to have entered Briton about two weeks before July 7 on a ferry into Felixstowe, and to have flown out from Heathrow hours before the four suicide bombers killed 52 rush-hour commuters on three Tube trains and a bus.

Investigators have sought him since discovering that he made up to 20 calls from his mobile phone to two of the bombers. Intelligence sources told The Times that during his stay in Britain Aswat visited the home towns of all four bombers as well as selecting targets in London.

Aswat, who is believed to come from Dewsbury, the West Yorkshire town where one of the July 7 bombers lived, is also being sought by the FBI, accused of having tried to set up al-Qaeda training camps in the US.

The Los Angeles Times said in its report that US and UK authorities had not yet decided where he should be prosecuted after his expected extradition from Zambia.

FBI documents obtained by The Times reveal details of how a London-based cleric sent Aswat to America in 1999 to set up camps in Oregon for US-born recruits.

The papers indicate that Aswat spent three months in America and engaged in firearms and poisons training, but decided against using a remote ranch in Bly as an al-Qaeda camp. The CIA is keeping in close touch with Aswat’s interrogation and British detectives are seeking permission to speak to him.

The FBI is to question a number of figures held in the US, including James Ujaama, an American convert to Islam who met Aswat, and a second al-Qaeda emissary in Seattle.

Ujaama has pleaded guilty to assisting the Taleban and is now a "co-operating witness" who has given details of Aswat’s activities in the US.

Aswat flew into New York on November 26, 1999, on an Air India flight with Oussama Abdullah Kassir, who has Swedish nationality. Kassir, 38, described himself as "a hitman for Osama bin Laden" and claimed to have fought in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Ujaama drove the pair to the ranch but they complained that it did not have the facilities — especially barracks for potential recruits — that they had been led to believe existed.

July 29, 2005 at 12:38 AM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home