UK anti-terror police find the deadly poison ricin in a London flat. The discovery is followed up with raids in Manchester, in which a policeman is killed, and a London mosque. A number of North Africans are arrested - but no link with al-Qaeda is yet established.

Two Yemeni men suspected of being al-Qaeda members are arrested at a Frankfurt airport hotel. The two men are named by German media as Mohammed Ali Hassan Sheik al-Mujahed and Said Mohammed Moshen.

Richard Reid is sentenced to life in prison by a court in Boston for attempting to blow up a passenger plane en route for Miami in December 2001 using explosives hidden in his shoes.

Throughout his trial, the so-called "shoe bomber" declared himself an avowed supporter of Osama Bin Laden. However his defence team argued that Reid did not have any ties with al-Qaeda and had acted alone.