A Briton who appeared in court in London yesterday on extradition charges allegedly was in possession of US navy battle plans and had contacts with an apparent Islamist spy within the service. American authorities claim that Babar Ahmad, 30, ran a terrorist fundraising and recruiting agency on the internet, much of it on behalf of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Ahmad, who appeared at Bow Street magistrate's court, was told his extradition was being sought by the Americans on two counts of using websites to solicit donations in the US to fund terrorism in Chechnya and Afghanistan. On the same dates - between 1998 and Feb 19 2001 and from then until the end of 2003 - he was also accused of agreeing to solicit donations in America to fund terrorism.
Authorities in Connecticut yesterday unsealed a 31-page indictment against Ahmad. Federal prosecutors said the investigation had spread to include his possible ties to an Islamist traitor serving aboard a US vessel. The "highly sensitive" investigation" was triggered by the alleged discovery by Scotland Yard officers in a raid on Ahmad's home last December. They allegedly found a computer disk containing classified descriptions of planned movements of a battle group in the Straits of Hormuz, off Iran, and offering guidance on how best to attack individual ships. Kevin O'Connor, a federal prosecutor, claimed the detailed plans for the battle group appeared to have been sent in early April 2001, detailing where the ships would be on April 29, 2001. The plans allegedly amounted to a blueprint on how to attack US warships. The disk included the battle group's planned movements on that day, a drawing of the group's formation, and the names of individual ships and where they would be in that formation. |