Peshawar, June 27: Pakistani authorities arrested a suspected al-Qaeda operative and seized a video cassette purportedly of Osama bin Laden warning of attacks against US interests in Saudi Arabia, intelligence officials said today. The Egyptian national was arrested Wednesday in a raid on a house in the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, said two intelligence officials. Found at the home were three video cassettes, including one allegedly of bin Laden warning of attacks against US interests in Saudi Arabia, according to one of the two intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Officials say the man, identified as Haris bin Asim, apparently wanted to deliver the video cassettes to the Arab satellite station al-Jazeera. The al-Jazeera correspondent in Islamabad, Ahmed Zaidan, said he had no knowledge of any cassettes or deliveries. Word of the arrest comes a day after Saudi and US officials said authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested one of the alleged al-Qaeda masterminds in last month's terrorist bombings in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. In the May 12 assault, gunmen and suicide bombers attacked three housing compounds populated by westerners and other foreigners. Nine attackers and 25 victims were killed.

Asim was arrested at the Katchi Ghauri refugee camp on the western edge of Peshawar, intelligence sources said.


In addition to the video cassettes, police also recovered US, Afghan, Saudi Arabian and Pakistani currency, they said without specifying how much.

Bureau Report