BRITAIN: Frantic behind-the-scenes efforts were being made last night to ensure the extradition of the July 21st bombing suspect held in Rome after Italian authorities announced that he had been charged with terrorist offences.
While police sources remained confident that Osman Hussein would be sent back to London, it was announced that the man suspected of attempting a bomb attack at Shepherd's Bush was to face Italian charges of terrorism and possession of false passports.
The confusion arose as police in London mounted a major armed operation around mainline and underground stations amid fears of further attacks on the capital. Eighteen people, including three others suspected of involvement in the July 21st bombings arrested last Friday, were being interviewed by police in London and Sussex as senior officers warned of a "continuing threat".
In a move that will have dismayed British authorities, a judge in Rome yesterday ordered that the Ethiopian-born Hussein, known in Italy as Hamdi Issac, be remanded in custody while prosecutors prepare a case against him in Italy for international terrorist conspiracy.
Scotland Yard remains confident it will succeed in its extradition attempts but there remains a worry about whether Italian prosecutors will agree to let him be brought back to London speedily enough for him to help in the current phase of the investigation.
A senior Italian police official also said yesterday he believed extradition would "not take long". Carlo De Stefano, speaking at a press conference in Rome before the judge issued her ruling, appeared to question the need for keeping the suspect in Italy.
"The investigative evidence collected so far does not support the theory that there are links with other terrorist inquiries carried out in Italy or with terrorist organisations active in the country," Mr De Stefano said. He added that Mr Hussein appeared to be "more part of an ad hoc group than a structured organisation with broad terrorist aims".
On Saturday, the interior minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, told MPs that the suspect had relied on a "tightly knit" support network. But yesterday Mr De Stefano said his contacts in Italy were "solely and exclusively to do with family and friends". He said Mr Hussein had changed his name from Issac when he left Italy for Britain.
The newspaper La Repubblica yesterday published an interview with his Italian former girlfriend, who said that as a teenager he had been "obsessed" with American ghetto culture.
Yesterday's hearing was held behind closed doors in the city's Regina Coeli prison, where Mr Hussein and his brother, Remzi, have been held since their arrest on Friday. - (Guardian Service)