The authorities in Lusaka said last night they were ready to hand over Aswat, 31, to Scotland Yard and not FBI agents who want to interrogate him about his role with al-Qaeda.

British detectives will question him about any role he may have played in the July 7 attacks in London. He is alleged to have slipped into Britain a fortnight before the bombing and flew out of Heathrow shortly before the attacks.

Officials in Zambia said that he had arrived there on July 6. They said there would be no drawn-out extradition hearings as they are preparing to fast-track the exchange and are finalising “little details concerning the handover”.

A senior official said: “We have tentatively agreed to hand him over to the British Government. The US Government also requested us to hand him over to them, but after further discussions among ourselves, we realised that it would be proper that he be handed over to Britain because he is a British national.”

Aswat is estranged from his parents, who live in Batley, West Yorkshire, but they are worried that their son could still end up in the custody of US agents and be taken to Guantanamo Bay.

They point out that another Briton — Martin Mubanga — arrested in Zambia on terror allegations was given to American officials and flown to Cuba in 2001. Mr Mubanga was later released without any charges.

Aswat left home in Dewsbury more than ten years ago and is known to have visited Pakistan after spending time at Finsbury Park mosque, in North London. Convicted al-Qaeda terrorists have told how Aswat had been trained at a terror camp in Afghanistan.

FBI documents seen by The Times claim that he was sent to the US by a London-based cleric to open a training camp at a ranch in Bly, Oregon, in 1999.

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