PESHAWAR, May 18: The authorities have arrested a British national suspected of holding links with the Al Qaeda terror network, officials said on Wednesday. The man, who identified himself as Shehzad, was arrested four days ago from the small town of Shabqadar, some 25 kilometres north of Peshawar, a security official told AFP requesting anonymity.

The secret service agents arrested him with the help of the anti-terrorism police force during a raid on a house and recovered computer and compact discs from the room, he said. “We think he is an Al Qaeda man,” the official said but declined to give further information about the investigation.

“We are gathering other information about him and his Pakistani national identity card gave us an address in Hyderabad,” the official said. Shehzad, 25, told interrogators that he was from London and arrived in Pakistan last year in March. The authorities this month arrested a number of Al Qaeda suspects, including Abu Faraj Al Libbi, allegedly a key aide of Osama bin Laden.