New suspect linked to cartoon plot...

This keeps on getting bigger and bigger...

The fast-moving international case against a Pakistani-Canadian businessman charged with plotting a terror attack in Denmark and suspected of others in India moved into Pakistan on Monday night with news of the capture of another suspect.

Illyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani military officer and now a reputed commander of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) militant group, is believed to have been detained by Pakistan at the behest of the FBI, according to an unconfirmed report in The Times of India.

It's not clear when and where Kashmiri may have been taken into custody or if he is among as many as five people reportedly arrested by Pakistan in connection with the plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials.

If confirmed, Kashmiri's arrest will expand the global nature of the case, which already has connections to Chicago, Copenhagen, Mumbai and Kanata. It would also highlight the intercontinental reach of suspected terrorist operations.

Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, and Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, 49, were arrested in Chicago by the FBI last month and accused of plotting the murder of an editor and cartoonist at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which ran controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammad in 2005. They face charges of conspiring to provide material support for terrorism and providing material support to terrorism.

The pair live in the Chicago area, though Pakistan native Rana has family in Kanata, including an ailing father and a brother, Abbas, a well-known Parliament Hill journalist with The Hill Times.

According to U.S court documents, Headley, who is co-operating with authorities, posed as an employee of Rana's immigration consultancy in Chicago to travel to Denmark and carry out reconnaissance of the newspaper. The FBI alleges they reported on the plot to a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qaeda linked Kashmiri.

Lashkar, once nurtured by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency to fight India in Kashmir, also talked to them about possible attacks in India and suggested these should be given priority over the alleged plot in Denmark, according the FBI evidence, based largely on intercepted telephone conversations and e-mail traffic.

Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram recently confirmed to the Washington Post that police in India are investigating whether the two men had links to last November's Mumbai attack that killed 166, including two Canadians.