LONDON — A Briton of Indian descent who reportedly had telephone contacts with the four London transit system bombers just before the attacks has been apprehended in Pakistan, an official said Wednesday, as Britain moved to close its doors to extremist preachers and deport a prominent pro-Al Qaeda cleric.
The arrest of Haroon Rashid Aswat could be a break in the investigation of the July 7 bombings and could tie the events directly to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan, even though the four bombers were British citizens.
Aswat was previously sought by U.S. prosecutors, who have alleged that he was one of two "emissaries" Al Qaeda sent to the United States in an aborted 1999 effort to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore.
Investigators have determined that three of the London bombers made extended visits to Pakistan in late 2004, returning to their homes in Britain in February. Authorities suspect the three received terrorist training during that period.
According to British media reports, investigators had been searching for a person linked to Al Qaeda who entered Britain in the weeks before the bombings and departed only hours before the attacks. That figure now appears to have been Aswat, the Times of London reported today, quoting intelligence sources who said that he had been to the hometowns of all the bombers.
U.S. authorities have alleged that Aswat was one of two emissaries sent to Oregon in 1999 by London-based Egyptian cleric Abu Hamza al Masri to create an Al Qaeda training camp.
According to the 2002 indictment of Earnest James Ujaama, an American who became a follower of Abu Hamza, Aswat and another man flew to New York on Nov. 26, 1999, then made their way to Seattle and Bly, where they met potential trainees, conducted firearms training "and viewed a video recording on the subject of improvised poisons."
The training camp, however, was never built. In a plea bargain last year, Ujaama admitted delivering materials and a recruit to the Taliban in Afghanistan. He agreed to assist U.S. authorities in investigating terrorist activities.
The developments in the London investigation came as Britain outlined a tougher attitude toward radical preachers and moved to deport Abu Qatada, often called Bin Laden's ambassador to Europe.
