Police monitored bombing suspect’s phone calls

ITALIAN police described in detail yesterday how they monitored a London bombing suspect’s mobile phone calls before arresting him in Rome and said his extradition to Britain would not take long.

They also said the Briton accused by London police of trying to bomb an underground station July 21 falsified his name and nationality when applying for asylum in Britain years ago.

The suspect, born in Ethiopia as Hamdi Issac, changed his name to Osman Hussain and claimed he was from Somalia when he applied for political asylum, Carlo De Stefano, head of Rome’s anti-terror police, said in the first police briefing since his arrest last Friday.