Bin Laden cell 'found recruits at British mosques'

A man alleged to be a key member of an Osama bin Laden cell which was set to unleash mayhem in Europe has admitted that he recruited followers at mosques in Britain.

French authorities said Djamel Beghal, 35, a French-Algerian, confessed during interrogation last month in Dubai to being involved in a bin Laden-backed plot to blow up the US embassy in Paris.

He told them he frequented mosques in London and Leicester where he recruited several Islamic militants for bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

Beghal was reported to have said he travelled to Afghanistan where he met a key bin Laden aide, Abu Zubaydah, at bin Laden’s home six months ago.

He told interrogators that he undertook to blow up the embassy and an American cultural centre, also in Paris, before March next year.

But in 11 hours of lengthy questioning in Paris on Monday, Beghal withdrew many of his earlier statements about the plot.

His lawyer, Fabrice Dubest, said: ‘‘He formally denies having received the mission of preparing terrorist acts in France against the US Embassy.’’

Judicial officials who earlier reported that he had told the same story in Paris on Monday said they had been mistaken.

Beghal was arrested in Dubai in July with a false passport.

He has been placed under investigation in France on suspicion of having links to terrorist activity.

In his confession, he had named Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian, as the man who had agreed to carry out the suicide mission at the embassy.

Beghal said Trabelsi, who was arrested in Belgium on September 13, was set to walk into the embassy with explosives strapped to his body.

Another French-Algerian, Kamel Daoudi, 27, was arrested in Leicester last week and extradited to France on Saturday.

He was believed to have successfully fled Paris for Leicester following the arrest of seven embassy plot suspects in the French capital on September 21.

Two other men arrested under the Terrorism Act in Leicester along with Daoudi last week were yesterday handed over by police to the Immigration Service.

They had been held for the maximum seven days under the Terrorism Act but no charges were brought.

Suspects believed to be plotting attacks in Europe - including the US embassy in Paris, Nato headquarters in Belgium and the European Parliament in Brussels - have been arrested in Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.

Meanwhile, in Britain yesterday, anti-terrorist officers released without charge a 36-year-old man arrested at Gatwick Airport on Friday.

The man, believed to be an Arab, was travelling from the Middle East to the US.

It was reported that he was attempting to follow the same route to the US as 11 of the 19 suicide hijackers who attacked New York and Washington.

But a Sussex Police spokesman said last tonight: ‘‘The man arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act has been released without charge and is now with the immigration authorities.’’

Officers in London were today continuing to question a 43-year-old man, who was arrested on Monday, over whether he raised funds for the extremist group Islamic Jihad, which is banned in Britain.

They obtained a 48-hour extension yesterday to continue questioning him.

Police were also widening their investigation into the activities of a British-based Islamic cleric who issued a fatwa against Pakistan’s President, General Pervez Musharraf, over his support for America.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, leader of al-Muhajiroun, sparked outrage when he announced the fatwa in a radio interview last month.

The Crown Prosecution Service has been considering a police file stemming from a complaint about the radio interview.

But it has now asked police to take a ‘‘broader look’’ at the cleric’s dealings.

Detectives will look at whether he has breached the Terrorism Act by inciting or supporting terrorism abroad or has incited racial hatred, an offence under the Public Order Act.

Anti-Terrorist Branch officers were today continuing to question a 24-year-old man detained under the Terrorism Act as he went to board a Eurostar at Waterloo station in London on Monday afternoon.

The officers were called and arrested the man in connection with possible documentation offences.

He was taken to a central London police station where he remains in custody.

Detectives were not believed to be linking him to the World Trade Centre attacks.