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Al-Qaeda Internet plot foiled

From correspondents in London
March 12, 2007

BRITISH police have found evidence that al-Qaeda plotted to disrupt use of the Internet in Britain to spread chaos through the business and financial services industry, it was reported overnight.

A spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police told AFP that her force "would not be prepared to dicuss" the alleged plot when asked to comment on a Sunday Times report about it.

Detectives recovered computer files showing that the terror group had plotted to sabotage an Internet hub in London's Docklands, where virtually all information on the Internet travels in and out of Britain, it said.

The suspects were arrested following the raids in southern England last year, according to the report based on information from a senior government official.

It did not say how many suspects had been arrested and police would not confirm or deny that any arrests had been made.

The alleged target of the plot was the headquarters of Telehouse Europe, which houses Europe's biggest "web hotel" that contains dozens of servers where Internet information is stored, the newspaper said.

The government official told the newspaper that details on a computer hard drive seized in the raids indicated the suspects had plotted to infiltrate the hub, possibly to blow it up from the inside.

"The Telehouse facility was the subject of intense reconnaissance," the source was quoted as saying.

"The evidence suggests that it was one of a range of options considered by the suspects."

Telehouse Europe confirmed that it was forced to go on a "heightened state of alert" when security officials said they had uncovered the alleged plot, the newspaper said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21365211-1702,00.html