DID Press: A former al-Qaeda member and ex-agent for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has warned that a terrorist attack similar to the September 11 attacks or the July 7 London bombings can occur in the UK at any time, citing the presence of “hundreds” of al-Qaeda sleeper operatives in the country.
Aimen Dean, a former al-Qaeda member who worked for eight years as an intelligence source for MI5 and MI6, said the greatest threat to the West is not Russia but the spread of Islamist extremism. “The issue is not whether an attack will happen, but when it will happen,” he told the Sun newspaper.
Dean said his intelligence work during his infiltration of al-Qaeda helped foil several major terrorist plots, including a plan that targeted passengers on the New York subway system.
The former spy warned that Western governments’ current focus on Russia as the primary adversary has diverted attention from what he described as more immediate and serious threats. He predicted an increase in so-called “lone wolf” attacks in the future.
Saying that it is “impossible” to accurately estimate the number of al-Qaeda sleeper agents in Britain, Dean said the figure is at least in the “hundreds,” adding that such individuals could be activated at any time to carry out attacks.
The July 7, 2005 London bombings, which involved coordinated explosions on the public transport system, killed 52 people and remain among the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern British history.