Police in France have arrested a suspect said to belong to the elite membership of the al-Qaeda network. The suspect is alleged to have had contacts with Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui.
Moussaoui was the first person to be charged in the United States in connection with the multiple September 11 suicide attacks that killed some 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
The suspect, a Franco-Algerian whose identity has not been released, is to appear before an anti-terrorist investigating magistrate in Paris today. The man was arrested last Tuesday.
Sources said a key list of addresses was found in his possession and that he had already provided valuable information. They said the man had met Moussaoui in Afghanistan during 2000.
The French national faces charges of conspiracy to destroy aircraft, use weapons of mass destruction and murder US employees. He could face the death penalty if found guilty. His trial will open October 14.
