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| Britain |
| First Suspect in July 21 Bombings Charged |
| 2005-08-03 |
| Police charged a 23-year-old man Wednesday with withholding information about the failed July 21 bombing attempts targeting London's transit system, making him the first person in Britain to face criminal charges in the attacks. The charge alleges that Ismael Abdurahman, from southeast London, "had information he knew or believed may be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of another person in the UK for an offense involving the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism." He allegedly learned that information sometime between July 23 and July 28. Abdurahman will appear before Bow Street Magistrates in London on Thursday, police said. The bombs set on three subway trains and a double-decker bus only partly detonated and did not cause any injuries. The attacks came two weeks after four suicide attackers detonated bombs on three subway trains and a double-decker bus, killing 52 other people. British police have arrested 37 people in connection with the July 21 attacks, and on Wednesday were still holding 16. They released one detainee Tuesday. Police say those still in custody include three of the failed bombers. British officials are seeking the extradition from Italy of the fourth suspected bomber, Ethiopian-born Hamdi Issac, who was arrested Friday in Rome shortly after his arrival from Britain. On Monday, an Italian judge charged him with association with the aim of international terrorism. As investigators worked to bring terror suspects in Zambia and Italy to Britain, an official warned Wednesday that London police are being stretched thin by the pressures of heightened security in the wake of bombing attacks. Many officers in the Metropolitan Police have been working longer hours and more days as they investigate the attacks, said Richard Barnes, a member of the watchdog agency for the Metropolitan Police Authority. Thousands of officers from the force and the British Transport Police have been deployed at subway and train stations across London in recent weeks, in a bid to avert more strikes. Police also have had to deal with numerous security alerts, often caused by suspicious packages that prove to be harmless. "The Met has risen, as it always does, remarkably well to the challenge, but you can't sustain people working 12 hours a day, six days a week, constantly," Barnes told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "There are some specialists who are working far more than that. ... The pressure is just enormous." A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police had no immediate response to Barnes' comments. Meanwhile, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said Wednesday a terror suspect wanted for questioning in connection with the July 7 attacks will be deported to Britain. He gave no date for deportation. Zambian authorities have been questioning Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, about 20 phone calls he allegedly made to some of the July 7 bombers on his South African cell phone. The president said British and American investigators also have interrogated Aswat in Zambia, Mwanawasa said. He did not give a date for the deportation. Aswat also is implicated in a 1999 plot to establish a terrorist training camp in the United States and has told Zambian investigators he once was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, Zambian officials have said. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London said she could not talk about the deportation of an individual. She did say that British consular officials in Zambia were seeking a meeting with an unnamed Briton detained in that country, and that Zambian authorities had agreed to the request. In the July 21 bombing investigation, Italian prosecutor Pietro Saviotti said the extradition of Issac likely would take weeks. "The process for extradition is in course and at the same time we are carrying out careful checks to verify any possible crimes committed in our country," Saviotti told state radio RAI. "I would not say we are talking about days but about weeks" before Issac can be extradited, he said. Issac, who had lived in Britain for a decade, managed to elude a sweeping manhunt and leave London by train four days after the attack. Police say all four bombers who carried out the July 7 attacks died in the blasts. Officers are not holding any suspects in connection with those bombings. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 CA, Don't forget to increase the effect by 50X by doing it during Ramadamadingdong. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-03 20:05 |
| #2 Supporters and facilitators need to be dealt with as harshly if not more so than the actual boomers. |
| Posted by: MunkarKat 2005-08-03 14:23 |
| #1 In order, shoot him, hang him, then try him. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-08-03 14:13 |