Arrest of Al-Qaeda computer engineer in Pakistan led to new US alert

From AFP

The capture of an Al-Qaeda computer engineer in Pakistan in mid-July led to the most recent terror alert in the United States, the New York Times reported, quoting senior US officials.

Pakistani officials arrested Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a 25-year-old computer engineer, on July 13, according to the Times. The suspect is believed to have used and managed an Al-Qaeda communications system where information was transferred via coded messages, according to the Times.

A senior US official told the Times that "documentary evidence" found after Khan's capture showed in detail that Al-Qaeda members had been studying the buildings they want to target in New York, Newark and Washington even before the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

A second senior US intelligence official told the newspaper the information was more detailed than any he had seen during his 24-year career in intelligence work.
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