U.K. Reveals Arrest of Al Qaeda Member (from earlier this year)

[maddezmom]

Source: WSJ

A member of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was arrested in the U.K. earlier this year for allegedly plotting an attack in Britain, the Home Secretary said on Wednesday, underscoring the increasing threat of this al Qaeda affiliate around the world.

While the arrest had been announced earlier this year, his connection to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula hasn't been made in public.

Ms. May also publicly revealed for the first time details of the device intercepted in a package at a British airport on a Friday bound plane for Chicago, comparing the attempt to the Lockerbie bomb that killed 270 people in 1988. Ms. May said the explosive device was deeply concealed in the cartridge of a printer and connected to a hidden power source in sections of a mobile telephone.

"The specifics of this attack—notably the type of device and how it was concealed—were new to us," she said. "The principle of the attack—a device placed in unaccompanied baggage—was not," she said, saying it bore "resemblance" to the attack on Pan Am 103.

Ms. May warned that despite disruption to Friday's threat, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula remain a significant danger.



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