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Britain
Chemist, alleged mastermind of London bombings, arrested in Cairo
2005-07-15
A chemistry teacher believed to have been a possible mastermind in last week's London bombings has been detained near Cairo, ABC's "Good Morning America" reported on Friday.
He's the bomb maker or instructor, not the "mastermind". Reports state they brewed their own explosives, same stuff as shoe bomber.
The ABC report from London identified the man as Magdi El-Nashar, 33, a U.S.-trained chemist. It cited Egyptian and western intelligence sources as saying he had been captured in a Cairo suburb. The report said authorities believed the man had left Britain two weeks before the explosions that killed 54 people on July 7. The report said authorities were eager to learn whether "more than one mastermind" had been involved and whether more bombs had been made, possibly at a bomb factory in Leeds in northern England.
There will be a religious advisor who selected them, a guy handling finance and supply, a local controller (the guy who saw them off on the train) and above them the "mastermind.
Earlier press reports have said Elnashar attended North Carolina State University in 2000. ABC News said Elnashar was being questioned in Cairo, with British agents in attendance. British police say they are confident they can find an al Qaeda link to the attacks in which four British-born Muslims, the youngest only 18, blew themselves up in separate attacks on three subway trains and a bus during the morning rush hour. hemistry at Leeds University British and FBI officials were looking for el-Nashar, who recently had been teaching chemistry at Leeds University, north of London.
Who very quickly pulled him off their website, Google still has it cached.
The Times of London said el-Nashar was thought to have rented one of the homes police searched in Leeds in a series of raids Tuesday.
Maybe he handled logistics as well.
Neighbours reported el-Nashar recently left Britain, saying he had a visa problem, the newspaper said. Leeds University said el-Nashar arrived in October 2000 to do biochemical research, sponsored by the National Research Center in Cairo, Egypt. It said he earned a doctorate on May 6. FBI agents in Raleigh, North Carolina, joined the search for el-Nashar, who was formerly a North Carolina State University graduate student. University spokesman Keith Nichols said a person named el-Nashar studied at North Carolina State as a graduate student in chemical engineering for a semester beginning in January 2000. Nichols said the school has gathered records in anticipation of being contacted by the FBI.
Posted by:Steve

#13  BBC TV reported he was arrested yesterday at his family home in Cairo. Don't sound like a 'Mastermind' to me. I'll hazard a guess and say he just let some people use his flat while he was away on holiday.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-07-15 19:06  

#12  Why do you say that, Rory?
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-07-15 16:13  

#11  The "Mastermind" was likely Mustafa Setmariam Nasar aka Abu Musab al-Asuri.
Posted by: Rory B. Bellows   2005-07-15 14:27  

#10  Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Posted by: BigEd   2005-07-15 11:29  

#9  Wayback Machine Nashar

Of Course, if Google's cache gets updated with "forbidden" there is always the Wayback Machine
Posted by: BigEd   2005-07-15 11:08  

#8  Cache?

FYI From Leeds Univ...

Terrorist Bastard
Posted by: BigEd   2005-07-15 10:50  

#7  Or maybe not:
AP: Magdy el-Nashar, 33, was taken into custody upon his arrival in Cairo from abroad, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because an official announcement of the information had not yet been made. El-Nashar, who studied at North Carolina State University and taught at Leeds University in Britain, was being interrogated by Egyptian authorities, the official said. The official could not specify the date of the arrest or where el-Nashar was arriving from, but said it could be as long as a week ago.

Another source: (SA) Cairo - The alleged bomb-maker in the July 7 London terrorist attacks has been arrested in Cairo, where he is being interrogated, Egyptian officials said on Friday. They named the man as 33-year-old Magdy Nashar and said he had been arrested "several days ago".


That could mean they picked him up right after the blast. Still a lot of confusion in the press reports.
Posted by: Steve   2005-07-15 10:32  

#6  Anonymous sources, quoted by The Associated Press, report Magdy El-Nashar was detained Thursday night at Cairo's airport upon request of London authorities.

He left London two weeks before the blast, so he was most likely trying to leave Cairo after seeing his name in the news. Good thing they nabbed him before he was in the wind.
Posted by: Steve   2005-07-15 10:24  

#5  Impressive work Steve.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-07-15 10:10  

#4  What is this US-trained BS?

To drum up more anti-american sentiments and to show that is really the west's fault for everything, silly.
Posted by: mmurray821   2005-07-15 09:30  

#3  What is this US-trained BS? He went to a US school for 1 semester.
Posted by: ed   2005-07-15 09:20  

#2  And Mubarak's boys will be very thorough with his investigation.
He's probably pissing blood right now


Posted by: john   2005-07-15 09:11  

#1  My oh my but that was quick. Wonder if Mubarak's Boyz knew about him all along and have had him under surveillance for some time... Re-entering the country set off the bells and they were dogging him when his name popped out of the UK investigation...
Posted by: .com   2005-07-15 09:01  

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