|
Bin Laden's 'man' arrested
13/12/2005 17:05 - (SA)
Stockholm - A 39-year-old Swede accused of terrorism by the United States has been arrested in Prague, Swedish tabloid Expressen reported on Tuesday.
The man, who was not identified, is wanted by the US CIA spy agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which accuse him of being terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's "man in Sweden", Expressen wrote.
The US has tried to obtain his extradition for several years, accusing him of setting up al-Qaeda training camps in the US state of Oregon in 1999, but Sweden has refused to hand him over, the paper said.
The man was on a Czech Airlines flight from Stockholm to Beirut on Sunday, but never got there after stopping over in Prague, the paper said.
The Swedish foreign ministry confirmed that a Swedish man was arrested in Prague but would not confirm the newspaper's report.
"We confirm that a Swedish citizen around 40 years old has been arrested. The arrest followed an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol," ministry spokesperson Sofia Karlberg said.
The paper said that the Swede was also accused of having links to the group that carried out the July 7 bombings in London.
Expressen met the 39-year-old earlier this year when he denied having anything to do with the London bombings.
But he stressed that he "loved Bin Laden".
"You don't have to be a terrorist to love Bin Laden," he told the paper.
According to Expressen, the man was accused in Sweden of plotting terrorist attacks several years ago but was freed for lack of evidence.
He was later sentenced to a year behind bars on a weapons offence.
- AFP
|
News
