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Zambia deports terror suspect

LONDON: A Briton suspected of links to the Al-Qaeda terror network was deported to Britain from Zambia on Sunday. Britain sent a plane to collect Haroon Rashid Aswat, who was detained in the Zambian capital on July 20, and he boarded a flight to Britain at 9 a.m. local time, Zambian Home Affairs Secretary Peter Mumba said in Lusaka. It is not clear whether Britain suspects Aswat, a British citizen of Indian descent, of involvement in the London bombings in July. Zambian authorities questioned him about 20 phone calls reportedly made on his South African cell phone with some of the bombers responsible for July 7 attacks that killed 56 persons in London. British and American investigators have also interrogated Aswat (31), according to Zambian officials. A London police spokesman would not comment Sunday on whether Aswat was facing charges in Britain, and said he was ``not aware that there are any extradition proceedings,'' regarding Aswat. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the department ``been aware that deportation measures were under way,'' but she said she was ``unable to confirm specific details.'' British newspaper reports, citing security sources, have said that investigators do not believe Aswat was linked to the London attacks. He has been implicated in a 1999 plot to establish a terrorist training camp in the western U.S. state of Oregon, hostage-taking in Yemen and funding terror training in Afghanistan. — AP

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