British kidnapping suspect could face US trial

The British Islamic militant suspected of kidnapping American reporter Daniel Pearl could soon be extradited to face trial in the United States.

It is said Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, 27, is the target of an US grand jury investigation looking into abductions of Americans dating back to 1994.

Justice Department sources said Saeed, a former London School of Economics student born in Wanstead, could be indicted in a matter of weeks, and the US would then seek his extradition.

In Pakistan, police said they were hunting a man called Imtiaz Siddiqui, who they now believe may be holding Pearl.

With the fate of the Wall Street Journal reporter still uncertain, FBI officials in Washington were reported to be angry that Pakistani officials kept Saeed’s arrest secret for a week.

Saeed surrendered on February 5, but Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Service Intelligence Agency held him until February 12 before turning him over to police.

According to Pakistani police, Saeed and his accomplices belong to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant Islamic group with ties to al-Qaida that has long struggled for control of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Until they were banned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, such groups had the covert support of the ISI and Saeed himself was probably an ISI ‘‘asset,’’ a senior Pakistani official said.

The source suggested that the ISI, aware that the kidnapping was deeply embarrassing to Musharraf, tried and failed to make a deal for Pearl’s release.

The Washington Post said Saeed told his interrogators the kidnapping was a ‘‘warning shot’’ to the president for his crackdown on militant Islamic groups.

He said that three recent attacks in India were also intended to undermine Musharraf’s efforts to curb the activities of extremist groups in response to US pressure.

In a Karachi courtroom last week, Saeed admitted kidnapping Pearl and said he believed the reporter was dead. But Pakistani officials said he was bluffing.