The Times (UK): 'Top' al-Qaeda suspect held over London bomb attacks

[muriel_volestrangler]

(stop me if you've heard this before ...)

ARMED police in Pakistan seized a major al-Qaeda figure yesterday who has suspected close links to the London bombers, The Times has learnt.

The Pakistani, who was among 24 arrested during a series of raids in Lahore and Karachi, was under interrogation last night over the alleged role he played in the terrorist attacks on July 7. “We suspect two or three of the detained had links with the bombers, but one in particular, who is a major figure in al-Qaeda. We are interrogating them intensively,” one senior Pakistani official told The Times.
...
It emerged with the first signs of disagreement over whether a foreign mastermind was sent to Britain to orchestrate the attacks, which killed fifty-six people, including the four bombers. Police sources said last night that they believed that a British-born organiser had entered Britain a few weeks before the bombings and left hours before the attacks. They believed that the man, said to be in his early thirties, visited London and the towns where all the four bombers lived before flying out of Heathrow hours before the attacks.
...
After a thorough rechecking of all intelligence, however, MI5 had concluded that someone with a similar name had arrived in Britain and then left before the bombings. He was no longer regarded as a suspect.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1701187,00.html

[Maple]

1. Why would they need a 'mastermind'???

The recipe for the explosives is on the web, not to mention in countless books. Not hard to make, just unstable.

Plus 4 backpacks,4 guys and one ordinary everyday transportation route.

It isn't rocket science.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I agree - when they were talking about military-grade explosives

they had to account for how they got into the country - which might have needed someone with experience of smuggling. But it does sound as though MI5 are no longer sold on the 'mastermind' theory either.

[Monkie]

5. i think they need the mastermind to overcome the disconnect

between who the bombers are and who they are.
The bombers arent fitting in with our cozy picture of what a islamic terrorist should be, so a evil mastermind warping those poor young impressionable minds would fit in better with our pop-culture image of the problem.

[BreakForNews]

7. Police Get Coy About London Bomb Explosives

British police seem to be experiencing a very unusual -and hard to
fathom- delay in identifying the type of explosive used in the London
bombs.

"Forensic experts are scrutinising the four blast sites to
determine the exact make-up of the substance... Early reports
suggested the bombers had used a military plastic explosive during the
attacks on the capital's transport network."

"It was later claimed that police had found acetone peroxide - or
TATP - in a bath during a raid on a property in Leeds.... However, the
source said police were still carrying out tests to establish its
exact make-up."

Perhaps the coyness is because the truth would poke a hole in the
official line about homemade bombs. A line at variance with early
accounts by some media sources.

So how hard is this identification process? Not very....

More: Police Get Coy About London Bomb Explosives
http://wagnews.blogspot.com/2005/07/police-get-coy-about-london-bomb.html

[daleo]

9. I heard it was made of nail polish and perfume.

And maybe a dash of hair dye. They found all the precursors in a bathroom.

[Career Prole]

2. Al Qaeda is one top-heavy organization! n/t

[jobycom]

4. LOL!

[kliljedahl]

6. Well they did get the #3 guy

about 20 times now, so it had to be somebody "higher"


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[daleo]

8. I would rather see a proper trial (or at least proper inquest) in Britain

Than have Pakistan torture a confession out of someone, which will then be presented as some sort of evidence of something.

[bassman79]

10. I wonder if the "mastermind"...

approached the four bombers and asked, "Hey, you wanta be a part of an MI5 terrorism drill and help your country and get paid? All you gotta do is get on the tube with this backsack...."!!!!