Al-Qaeda computer expert arrested
ISLAMABAD: Intelligence agents had found plans for new attacks against the United States and Britain on a computer seized during the arrest of a senior al-Qaeda suspect in Gujrat, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Monday.
The plans were found in e-mails on the computer of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian arrested July 25 after a 12-hour gunbattle, Rashid told The Associated Press. "We got a few e-mails from Ghailani’s computer about (plans for) attacks in the US and UK," he said, adding that the information has been shared with Pakistan’s allies, a reference to the United States.
He said authorities have also arrested another top suspect believed to be a computer and communications expert, and that man was cooperating with investigators. It was not clear if the man was linked to Ghailani, and Rashid would not say when or where he was captured. "He is a very wanted man, but I cannot say his name now," he said. He said the man was a militant, but refused to say if he was part of al-Qaeda.
Refusing to reveal the expert’s nationality, the minister said that he was captured either in Lahore or in Gujrat. "After Ghailani this is the second important arrest in Pakistan," Rashid told state television. "We have got valuable information from him," he said. "We have arrested some more people in addition to these two," he said but did not give the number.
An intelligence official said the man was a computer engineer who would send messages using code words to al-Qaeda suspects. Pakistani television reported that his name was Noor Mohammed, but the official said that was just an alias.
The New York Times on Monday reported that a 25-year-old computer engineer named Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan was arrested in Pakistan on July 13, apparently a reference to the same man. Rashid would not confirm whether the information from Ghailani or the computer expert is what prompted US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to issue a warning on Sunday about a possible al-Qaeda attack on prominent financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, New Jersey.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat confirmed that Ghailani was sharing "vital" information, but would not comment on what it was. An intelligence official said on condition of anonymity that the information about a US attack appeared to be centred on New York. Hayat said Ghailani remains in Pakistani custody.
The Home Office in London, which is responsible for policing and security in Britain, said it didn’t believe the computer seizure revealed a "specific threat" or that the British public needed to take any special action as a result.
Sheikh Rashid said Pakistani forces are still acting on the information the computer expert is supplying, and that it is an ongoing investigation. He said that the investigation into Ghailani had revealed that he was training terrorists in Pakistan to commit suicide attacks, though it was not clear if there was a direct connection between him and the attempt on Shaukat Aziz. |
