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May 9th, 2012
12:21 PM ET
A double agent and the al Qaeda plot
The agent who penetrated al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and returned from Yemen with the group's new "airline bomb" was always under Saudi control and was not a double-agent, two sources briefed by Saudi counterterrorism officials have told CNN.
One source told CNN that the device was recovered around April 20, more than a week before the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, and was then handed over to the United States for forensic analysis.
One source said that from the very beginning, the infiltrator was working for Saudi intelligence. The other said Saudi intelligence was involved "from A to Z." The source added that the agent involved had moved in the "jihadist orbit" in Saudi Arabia before being recruited
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