In Pakistan, authorities at first denied that they had captured the 30-year-old Aswat. But a militant source and an intelligence official in the eastern city of Lahore confirmed late Wednesday that he was detained Tuesday night at a madrasa, or Islamic school, near the city of Sargodha in Punjab province.
The intelligence official said authorities found explosives and a large sum of money in the raid.
The Times of London said today that Aswat's telephone number was in the phone records of all four bombers who died in the attacks, which killed at least 52 people as well as the bombers. Other British media reports said detectives were investigating whether Aswat was a facilitator who entered Britain before the attacks and briefed the men who carried them out.
Aswat was carrying a British passport, the reports said, and he originally was from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, the town outside Leeds that was home to bomber Mohamed Sidique Khan. According to British media, Scotland Yard had passed Aswat's name to Pakistani intelligence forces, who carried out the arrest.
Pakistani authorities said Aswat visited Britain and the U.S. frequently in the last two years.
Soon after the London attacks, a U.S. law enforcement official who was familiar with the investigation said British officials were looking for a Briton whose background was similar to those of the bombers. The same person was sought by U.S. authorities, he said, in part because of his trips to and contacts with the United States.
Aswat was arrested at Madrasa Qasim ul Uloom in Bhagtanwala, a village near Sargodha, the militant source said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he belonged to an organization that was banned in Pakistan. Two other men, Qari Fateh Mohammed and Maulana Ilyas, were arrested in the raid at the madrasa, which was affiliated with the banned group.
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said authorities had carried out a series of counter-terrorism operations.
"More than 200 people have been arrested who are wanted in terrorist cases and violation of the publications law," he said. "Most of the people arrested belonged to proscribed militant groups who were still engaged in the activity." The action will continue, he added.
Sherpao said the crackdown, the third in as many years, was not linked to the London probe. "This is our internal matter, and we are dealing with it in that perspective," he said.
