Police arrest three in Norway terror plot
Updated on 08 July 2010
Three men are arrested in Norway and Germany on suspicion of planning terror attacks, as well as having links to al-Qaida and to people under investigation in Britain and the US.
Police officials in Norway said two of the men had been detained in the Oslo region, while a third had been held in Germany.
The men are suspected of planning to use portable peroxide based bombs in an attack on an undecided target. New reports said the suspects had been monitored for a year by counter-terrorism agents.
Norwegian police spokeswoman Janne Kristiansen said: "We believe this group has had links to people abroad who can be linked to al-Qaida and to people who are involved in investigations in other countries, among others the United States and Britain."
She did not give details of the plot, nor say which country might have been the target of the planned attack, but she told a news conference the arrests had been prompted by fears that details of the Norwegian investigation might become public.
More from Channel 4 News on al-Qaida
- Al-Qaida third in command 'killed in Pakistan'
- New York bomb: video of man leaving the scene
- America's unlikely ally against al-Qaida
- Did al-Qaida recruit Abdulmutallab in UK?
One of the men arrested today was a Norwegian citizen of Uighur origin, another was an Iraq citizen, and the third was an Uzbek citizen. The last two had permanent residency in Norway
Today's arrests follow yesterday's detention in Britain of Abid Naseer, whose extradition is being sought by the United States in connection with last year's failed New York subway bomb plot. In May Naseer won a court battle against deportation to Pakistan to stand trial on terror charges there.
Yesterday federal prosecutors charged five men, including former Brooklyn resident Adnan Shykrijumah, with crimes including the New York subway bomb plot and attack an unidentified target in Britain.
