TOKYO, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- An al-Qaida-linked Frenchman who spent two years in Japan helped plan an aborted attack on London's Heathrow Airport, the Yomiuri Shimbun said Thursday.
Lionel Dumont, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, now in French custody after his arrest in Germany in December, reportedly stayed in Japan raising funds for the terrorist network in 2002 and 2003.
The paper received the information from an unnamed security official in a Southeast Asian country, and said it signaled that Japan had become part of al-Qaida's plots for attacks around the world.
Dumont's involvement in the airport attack was revealed by Andrew Rowe, a British member of al-Qaida arrested in October 2003. Britain informed the Southeast Asian nation's security authorities of his confession.
Dumont and Rowe plotted to use mortars to fire shells at the control tower, runways and passenger planes at the airport in March 2003. Dumont visited Malaysia at least twice to meet Rowe, while raising money in Japan.
The plan was foiled when British security forces received intelligence about it and put the airport on full alert in February 2003.
