FRANCE’S foreign intelligence service learned as early as January 2001 that al-Qaida was preparing a hijacking plot likely to involve a US airplane, former intelligence officials said yesterday, confirming a report that also said the CIA received the warning.

A French intelligence service learned as early as January 2001 that al-Qaida was working on a plot to hijack US airliners, and it passed the information on to the CIA, it has been reported today.