PARIS, Oct 26: French police say they are to keep closer watch over the country’s cybercafes in their quest to better control the activities of Al Qaeda on French soil.

According to a magistrate with the Paris-based brigade that has been put in charge of waging France’s battle against terrorism in general and Al Qaeda in particular, had French police possessed the means with which to keep closer watch over the cybercafes late last year, they’d been able to stop “shoe-bomber” Richard Reid before he boarded an American Airlines flight to Miami on December 22.

Police now say that Reid’s “instructions” were provided over the Internet from Peshawar in Pakistan, by way of a cybercafe located in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, whose proprietor, a Pakistani national, was later picked up by police, but released after no charges could be filed against him.

Police also say that had they better access to the Internet, they’d also have been able to capture earlier this year the Al-Qaeda “big fish” who was arrested last week on the Cote d’Azur.