Haroon Aswat, a Briton apprehended in Zambia two weeks ago reportedly wanted in connection with last month’s deadly bomb attacks in London, was arrested on his arrival in Britain on Sunday after being deported from Lusaka, Scotland Yard announced.
”Haroon Rashid Aswat … was arrested by metropolitan police officers following receipt of a US request for his extradition,” Scotland Yard said in a statement.
Aswat was deported — and not extradited — to Britain from Zambia because he was officially being held for breaching immigration laws.
He arrived at a Royal Air Force base in Northolt, west of London, on Sunday and was taken to a police station in central London, Scotland Yard said.
Aswat (30) will appear before a court convened in Belmarsh high security prison, south of London, according to the statement.
He has been named in United States and British media reports as the alleged mastermind behind the July 7 blasts that killed 56 people including the four suicide bombers, but this has not been confirmed by the British police.
Zambian police inspector general Ephraim Maateyo earlier said the arrest ”follows ongoing security investigations on the threat of terrorism to which Mr Aswat is alleged to be connected”.
US media said on July 22, the day after four abortive attacks on London’s transport system, that US police and intelligence agencies were taking part in the hunt for Aswat.
They said that the four suicide bombers behind the July 7 attacks had made about 20 calls to him on his cellphone.
US authorities have also reportedly sought to question Aswat over alleged attempts to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, in the western United States.
British newspapers have reported that Aswat had told his captors he was once a bodyguard for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The Times said that would make him the ”most prominent Briton in the terror network”.
Aswat, who spent time in South Africa and Botswana before entering Zambia on July 6, had been on a watch list of Western intelligence agencies who tipped off Zambian authorities.
He was deported from Zambia early on Sunday, leaving Lusaka international airport on a chartered plane to Britain.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa announced Wednesday that Aswat would be sent to Britain.
Aswat was born into a family of Indian origin, living in Dewsbury in the north of England, one of nine brothers and sisters.
He earned a diploma in electronics and then headed for London to undertake Islamic studies.
It was there that he met the notorious and fiery Egyptian preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri, known as Captain Hook because of his artificial hands, a leading figure in the group of radical Islamists centred on the Finsbury Park mosque in north London. – Sapa-AFP