An alleged Pakistani al Qaeda operative accused of planning attacks in the United States, Britain and Norway was extradited to America.
The British Home office on Thursday said that Naseer was a resident of Manchester in Northern England and was extradited to America where he is accused of terrorism offenses. His case is now a matter for the US authorities.
Abid Naseer, 26, flew out of Britain from Luton Airport near London under US custody. He is due to face a federal judge Monday on charges of joining a failed al Qaeda plot to bomb the New York. Naseer was originally arrested in 2009 along with 10 other Pakistani men over a suspected Manchester bomb plot. They were released without charge after prosecutors cited inadequate evidence, and ordered to be deported. Despite Naseer being an al Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat, he could not be returned to Pakistan as his safety there could not be guaranteed, said an immigration judge. Two months after his release in July 2010, Naseer was arrested again on a US warrant linked to the New York case.
According to American prosecutors, Naseer was a go-between for three men convicted of traveling to Pakistan for militant training, then plotting an attack to set off suicide bombs in New York City’s subway in 2009. The plotters admitted to communicating with an al Qaeda organiser in Pakistan named Ahmad. US authorities say Ahmad was in turn communicating with Naseer, who likewise visited Peshawar. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that upon returning to the United Kingdom, Naseer sent messages back and forth to the same email account that ‘Ahmad’ was using to communicate with the American-based al Qaeda cell.
