BRITAIN: Carlo De Stefano, head of Italy's anti-terrorism police forces, has told how Osman Hussein was tracked across Europe by hi-tech surveillance technology which was used to eavesdrop on his mobile phone conversations.
Police and intelligence agencies listened yesterday as the July 21st bombing suspect tried to find a way of evading the various police forces searching for him.
As investigators tuned in on Friday morning, hours before his arrest, Hussein spoke in an obscure Ethiopian dialect which is used on the border of Somalia and Eritrea, which encouraged them to believe they had the right man.
While on the run he also made a call to Saudi Arabia and detectives are investigating whether he had links to al-Qaeda suspects in the kingdom.
Technological efforts to track Hussein across the Continent began soon after he slipped out of Britain on a Eurostar train from Waterloo on July 26th, despite being one of four suspects in the country's biggest manhunt to date.
British police had identified a mobile phone he was using, which had made calls to Italy, and passed it on to the the Italian authorities.
Hussein was tracked through France to Italy, but dumped his British SIM card and replaced it with an Italian one. Italian police honed in on that the day before his arrest.
On the day of the arrest last Friday, they recorded conversations in which he used the Ethiopian dialect. Recordings were sent to London where anti-terrorist police were able to confirm that it was Hussein. He was arrested at his brother's house in the Rome suburb of Tor Pignatarra.
Italian police were also able to confirm his identity by a wound to his right leg which British police said was sustained as he tried to jump over a barrier to escape the London Underground station following the failed attack at the Shepherd's Bush station on July 21st. - (PA)