LONDON, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- British security officials say a man arrested in the alleged plot to bomb airplanes may be the leader of the British al-Qaida terrorist cell.
British Home Office officials did not name the suspect, but said he was the alleged astermind behind the plot to bomb up to nine airplanes headed from Britain to the United States, The Sunday Times of London reported.
The man is also believed to have been involved in sending the leader of another alleged terrorist plot to Pakistan for training, the officials said. They said he is thought to be the leader of a ring of cells that operate in Britain, Kashmir, north Africa and Iraq.
British counter-terrorism officials have said up to 20 terrorists were involved in the airline plot, in which the suspects allegedly planned to use a gel explosive hidden in sports drink bottles to explode up to nine U.S.-bound planes over the Atlantic Ocean.
