LOS ANGELES, Aug 17: The US authorities have detained a Pakistani suspected of involvement in a possible plot to attack the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles and other targets, officials said on Wednesday.

The authorities are investigating three people detained in recent days, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spokesman, Laura Eimiller, told AFP. A Pakistani, Hammad Riaz Samana, 21, was detained on Aug 2 in Los Angeles, according to the prisons service which is holding him at a federal detention centre.

Riaz Samana is being detained as part of an investigation into a possible terrorist cell based in California, a source said. The Los Angeles Times said the FBI and police were investigating a suspected conspiracy to organize attacks by extremists held at the Folsom state prison.

The investigation follows the arrest of two other suspects, Levar Haney Washington and Gregory Vernon Patterson, who are accused of a series of gas station robberies in Los Angeles County. The Times said that police found a list at Washington’s home of possible targets, including the Israeli consulate and two synagogues.—AFP