Briton 'wanted for questioning over London bombs is held in Pakistan'

Jason Bennetto,Kim Sengupta,Ian Herbert,Justin Huggler
Thursday 21 July 2005 00:29 BST

The telephone number of the suspect, Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, was said to have been found in the mobile phone of the bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan. Like Khan, Mr Aswat was born and lived in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

The man is understood to have been detained in Lahore as part of a clampdown on 200 banned militants and religious extremists. Scotland Yard said it was liaising with Pakistani authorities.

Mr Aswat was born in Dewsbury on 22 September 1974 and has eight brothers and sisters aged from 15 to 32. His siblings and parents still live in Dewsbury and Batley.

There remains, however, considerable confusion about his arrest, with one Pakistani minister denying that a man of that name was being held. However, Pakistani security sources have insisted he was arrested in the town of Sarghoda, which is 90 miles south of Islamabad.

An intelligence source claimed he was carrying a suicide bomb belt packed with explosives, about one million rupees (£10,000) in cash and a British passport.

British police and security agencies are understood to have been informed about the arrest and want to interview Mr Aswat. At least three of the British-born London suicide bombers are known to have travelled to Pakistan last year in two separate groups and there is growing evidence they became radicalised while staying there. Khan, 30, who set off the bomb at Edgware Road station, killing six other passengers, is thought to have been the senior member of the unit. British investigators have discovered that Khan had an extensive series of contacts with Islamic extremists. A security official said that it had not yet been "definitively concluded" that the telephone number found in Khan's mobile telephone was that of Mr Aswat, but that the evidence was "pointing in that direction".

Mr Aswat's family said that he had moved from West Yorkshire about 10 years ago.

At a house in Warwick Road, Batley, where Mr Aswat's parents are believed to live, a man, who said he was a brother of Mr Aswat, said: "We've not seen him for 10 years. He went away to have a chance of a better job and better standard of living. In the early days of going he made the odd phone call. From what I can conclude maybe he didn't want us to know what he was doing."

The man, who would not give his name, said the family had yet to be told anything officially about the arrest. "The only thing we can do is to ask him to contact us."

Mr Aswat's parents are Rashid and Sarah. Rashid Aswat runs a bathroom business, but is semi-retired. The Muslim family have moved to the terraced house from Gujarat in India.

It appears that there is a connection between British and Pakistani Islamic militants. The kidnapper of the American reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Omar Saeed Sheikh, is a British Muslim of Pakistani origin, and there are reports that Sheikh has been questioned about the London bombs.

The dead

TAVISTOCK SQUARE

Mr Anthony Fatayi-Williams, 25, Hendon, BRITISH

Mrs Gladys Wundowa, 50, Ilford, BRITISH

Ms Neetu Jain, 37, Hendon, BRITISH

Mrs Marie Hartley, 34, Oswaldwhistle, BRITISH

Mrs Susan Levy, 53, Cuffley, BRITISH

Mr Giles Hart, 55, Hornchurch, BRITISH

Mr Philip Stuart Russell, 28, Kennington, BRITISH

Ms Miriam Hyman, 31, Barnet, BRITISH

Ms Anat Rosenburg, 39, Finsbury Park, ISRAELI

Mr Sam Ly, 28, Bayswater, AUSTRALIAN

Mr Jamie Gordon, 30, Enfield, ZIMBABWEAN

Ms Shyanuja Parathasangary, 30, Kensal Rise, SRI LANKAN

Miss Shahara Islam, 20, Plaistow, BANGLADESHI

Mr William Wise, 54, no details

KING'S CROSS

Mr Ciaran Cassidy, 22, Crouch Hill, BRITISH

Mr James Mayes, 28, Islington, BRITISH

Mr Arthur Frederick, 60, Seven Sisters, BRITISH

Mr James Adams, 32, Peterborough, BRITISH

Ms Elizabeth Daplyn, 26, Highgate, BRITISH

Mr Adrian Johnson, 37, Sutton-in-Ashfield, BRITISH

Ms Helen Jones, 28, Holloway, BRITISH

Mr Lee Harris, Tottenham, BRITISH

Mr Philip Beer, 22, Borehamwood, BRITISH

Ms Samantha Badham, 36, Tottenham, BRITISH

Mr Christian Small, 28, Walthamstow, BRITISH

Ms Emily Jenkins, 24, Kew, BRITISH

Mrs Ojara Ikeagwo, 55, Luton, BRITISH

Ms Karolina Gluck, 29, Finsbury Park, POLISH

Ms Monika Suchocka, 25, Archway, POLISH

Mrs Anna Brandt, 43, Wood Green, POLISH

Mr Ihab Slimane, 24, Finsbury Park, FRENCH

Miss Shelley Marie Mather, 26, London, NEW ZEALANDER

Miss Ganze Gunoral, 24, Barnet, TURKISH

Mrs Behnaz Mozakka, 47, Finchley, IRANIAN

Mr Ateeque Sharifi, 24, Hounslow, AFGHAN

Ms Michelle Otto, 46, Mill Hill, ROMANIAN

Mr Michael Matsushita, 37, Islington, VIETNAMESE

Ms Rachelle Chung For Yuen, 27, Mill Hill, MAURITANIAN

Ms Mala Trivedi, no details

EDGWARE ROAD

Mr David Foulkes, 22, Oldham, BRITISH

Mr Jonathan Downey, 34, Milton Keynes, BRITISH

Mr Colin Morley, 52, Finchley, BRITISH

Miss Jennifer Nicholson, 24, Reading, BRITISH

Ms Laura Webb, 29, Islington, BRITISH

Mr Michael Brewster, 52, Derby, BRITISH

ALDGATE

Mr Richard Gray, 41, Ipswich, BRITISH

Ms Anne Moffat, 48, Old Harlow, BRITISH

Miss Carrie Taylor, 24, Billericay, BRITISH

Ms Fiona Stevenson, 29, Danbury, BRITISH

Mr Lee Baisden, 34, Romford, BRITISH

Mr Richard Ellery, 21, Ipswich, BRITISH

Ms Benedetta Ciaccia, 30, Norwich, ITALIAN

THE BOMBERS

Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30

Hasib Hussain, 18

Shahzad Tanweer, 22

Germaine Lindsay, 19

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in