Haroon Rashid Aswat
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Haroon Rashid Aswat (born ca. 1979 in Britain) is a British citizen of Indian origin. He was reportedly an MI6 informant and he is the alleged Al Qaeda organizer responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings[citation needed].
Police sources have told newspapers that Aswat made some 20 mobile phone calls to two of the suspected bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, one just hours before the blasts.[1] Although his family claims that years ago he disappeared to Afghanistan or Pakistan, he was monitored entering Britain at Felixstowe, Suffolk in late June 2005 and then departing via Heathrow hours before the attacks. His profile was mentioned early in the investigation as a potential suspect, but his name was kept secret until he was arrested by Zambian authorities after entering that country through Zimbabwe.
Aswat is believed to have helped set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon in the United States in 1999. Recently, he was in South Africa, where American agents reportedly monitored his activities. It has been alleged that the US wished to arrest him, but the UK opposed the arrest, apparently due to his British citizenship. However, terrorism expert John Loftus, interviewed on FOX News's Day Side on 30 July 2005, said that Rashid was in fact an MI6 informant and had been for many years.[1] According The New Criminologist, it has been confirmed by leading U.S. and French intelligence asset/agents.[2] He was deported from Zambia to the UK on 7 August 2005 and arrested on his arrival.
For a time he was believed killed in Afghanistan, as his identification papers were found on the body of a Taliban fighter.
The Los Angeles Times reports that a British judge has approved Aswat's extradition to the USA.[2]
