Eleven of the 19 hijackers involved in the recent devastating air strikes on the US spent time plotting their attacks in Britain, according to The Times yesterday.
The paper, citing intelligence chiefs, said that five of the hijackers left London airports in June to fly to America after possibly partaking in "a vital planning meeting."
According to the broadsheet, the FBI has asked Scotland Yard to discover who sheltered and funded the team during its stay in Britain in the hope of uncovering a cell of Al Qaida -- the organization of Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the Sept. 11 strikes on New York and Washington.
The paper said that three hijackers were on each of the two aircraft that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and three were on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. It added that two were on the airliner that hit the Pentagon.
The 11 hijackers were joined in America after their stay in Britain by eight others, including three from a cell in Germany, the paper said.
Police here are reportedly checking London hotels and addresses bordering the capital, trying to establish where the hijackers stayed.
Investigators believe that the 11 collected funds while in Britain, The Times said.
On Tuesday, police arrested three men in central England under anti-terrorist legislation they believe may be linked to anti-American terrorist activities in Europe.
The three -- aged 29, 35, and one believed to be in his 20s -- were arrested at two houses in Leicester and were being questioned by anti-terrorist police.
According to British laws, suspects can be detained for 48 hours without being charged.
Police then must seek courts' permission to extend this time to up to a week. The men were not suspected of being involved in the the US strikes.
But their detention was believed to be linked to recent arrests and charges of suspected Islamic extremists carried out in France, Belgium and Holland.
French police charged seven suspected Islamic extremists in connection with planned terrorist attacks on US interests in France, a source close to the investigation said late Tuesday.
French authorities believe the seven suspects to be linked to a network in Europe close to Saudi dissident bin Laden.
The suspects, aged between 20 and 32, had all been placed under surveillance prior to the terror kamikaze attacks in the US and were ordered detained in the wake of the attacks out of fear they might flee.
Other arrests were made in Belgium and Holland soon after the terror attacks in New York and Washington, which saw the loss of thousands of lives.
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