Blasts: Haroon Aswat arrested on arrival in Britain Monday, August 8 2005 09:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -
London:
An Indian-origin British citizen, held in Zambia in connection with last month's bomb attacks in London, was arrested on his arrival in London after being deported from the African country.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, a Briton of Gujarati origin, was arrested late yesterday (Aug 7, 2005) night following receipt of a request by the United States for his extradition, Scotland Yard said in a statement here.
Thirty-year-old Aswat, who hails from West Yorkshire, is suspected by the US of involvement in a plot to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in Oregon.
He will also be questioned in Britain for his alleged role in last month's deadly bomb attacks in Underground train stations and a bus in London that killed 56 people.
Aswat is believed to have arrived at a Royal Air Force base in Northolt, west of London, in an unmarked Swiss-registered jet last night, the BBC reported.
He was then taken to the Paddington Green police station, it said.
Zambian authorities arrested him on 20 July after he entered that country on July 6.
Meanwhile, Aswat's family, upset over reports that British officials were discussing his extradition with the US Government, have called on the UK Government to intervene in
his case.
"Our Government and the FCO are dilly-dallying and do not have the decency to confirm Haroon's detention," BBC quoted them as saying in a statement yesterday.
British authorities had been 'reticent' about handing him over to the US because of the possibility of him ending up at Guantanamo Bay, the report said.