By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Police Department has sent a senior counterterrorism official to London and may send additional investigators in response to the arrest of four men accused of planning to use the lethal toxin ricin in terrorist attacks.
The decision to send the officer is part of a broader effort by the two cities to share intelligence about global terrorism and biological weapons, police said Thursday.
``Big cities -- Paris, New York, London -- have a bond as far as being targeted by terrorists, and we have to continue to exchange information and, indeed, increase our exchange of information,’' New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told The New York Times.
On Monday, four Algerian men were charged with terrorist and chemical weapons offenses in London after ricin was found in an apartment. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday there were indications the men are linked to a terrorist group in northern Iraq. The group is believed to have ties to al-Qaida.
The NYPD also has assigned investigators to Toronto, Tel Aviv and Lyons, France, and may soon assign one to Germany.