"Al-Qaida's No. 3" was the mastermind behind the plot to blow up
transatlantic flights, a Pakistani local newspaper Dawn
Wednesday quoted an intelligence source as saying.
"It is not Osama bin Laden and it's not Aiman Al Zawahiri, but
someone close to the rank of Abu Faraj Al-Libbi," the source
said.
It is an al-Qaida connection, the source said with
anonymity.
"It is the top hierarchy," he said.
Abu Faraj Al-Libbi, a third-tier al-Qaida operative, was
believed involved in an attempt to assassinate President Gen Pervez
Musharraf and was arrested from Mardan in May 2005.
The intelligence source said the plot to blow up US-bound planes
was similar in pattern to the one hatched to kill President
Musharraf.
"There was a mastermind, there was a planner and there were the
executioners," he said.
The source said that al-Qaida's link to the London airline
bombing plot was established.
Stressing the importance of key person Rashid Rauf's arrest, the
source said that without his capture the plot would not have been
foiled.
He acknowledged that there had been some hype about the bombing
plots but said the plotters were in the planning stage and were
procuring chemicals and equipment. They were not in the execution
stage, he said.
The source said that Rauf had gone to the United Kingdom in 1981
when he was less than one year old. He returned to Pakistan in 2002
and had since been living here.
He had been living in Pakistan, the source clarified but
declined to say when and where he had been arrested.
The source said that Pakistan was withholding the information
due to British legal sensitivities and that a team of their legal
experts was in Pakistan to discuss the case.
He said that Pakistani security agencies had arrested six to
seven suspects, including Rashid Rauf.
This is an ongoing operation and there could be more arrests, he
said. "Certainly, there will be more arrests as the investigation
proceeds," he said.
The source agreed that some of the London plotters might have
come to Pakistan but said that Islamabad was awaiting information,
including antecedents and passport details of the plotters to
ascertain facts.
Meanwhile, British ?is seeking the extradition of?
Rauf, The Times reported on Wednesday.
Officials at the British High Commission in the Pakistani
capital of Islamabad had started the process of bringing Rashid
Rauf, 25, back to Britain, the newspaper said.
Pakistan on Tuesday said it could extradite Rauf, who allegedly
gave details of the conspiracy after his arrest in early August
that helped to foil the plot. However, "The British government has
asked for mutual legal assistance but not for his extradition,"
Pakistani spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told local media.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said although Britain does not
have an extradition treaty with Pakistan, extradition is still
possible through a number of international treaties to which both
Britain and Pakistan are signatories, or through a one-off
request.
But the spokeswoman did not confirm or deny any extradition
requests, citing her department's policy.
Britain arrested 24 people in connection with the alleged plot
to bomb US-bound passenger jets. One of the 24 was released on
Friday, and police arrested one more suspect on Tuesday.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2006 )
