A key Al Qaeda figure who had access to the surveillance data that led authorities to increase the terror alert level was among those arrested in raids in Britain on Tuesday, according to a senior US national security official. He said the arrests were made on information obtained after the arrests of Al Qaeda suspects in Pakistan. The official described the arrest of Eisa al-Hindi, an Al Qaeda leader in Britain, as the initial unraveling of a network of Al Qaeda members thought to have been actively planning attacks in the United States and elsewhere.
| And all this while we've been expecting somebody named Smith or Ciccolini or Sanchez or Svensson or Wong or Mukkerjee. Just goes to show how wrong you can be... |
Hindi, according to the official, had access to the detailed surveillance of the five financial institutions in Washington, New Jersey, and New York that was stored in the computer of a suspect apprehended earlier in Pakistan. Other Al Qaeda operatives outside Britain also had access to the information, the official said. Investigators think there may be a link between Hindi and other recent intelligence that has raised serious concerns among counterterrorism officials in Washington.
| Holmes! How do you do it? |
Hindi was among 13 men, ages 19 to 32, arrested in raids late Tuesday in London, the nearby towns of Watford and Luton, and Blackburn in northwestern England. One man was freed yesterday without charge.
| "G'wan! Get outta here, kid! Don't lemme see you hangin' around that mosque again!" |
The others were being questioned at a London police station ''on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism," police said, according to the Associated Press.
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