Adlène Hicheur, a renowned nuclear physicist admits to being an Al-Qaeda spy. He worked at the famed "Big Bang" Hadron Collider (pictured). Scary. Glad he was caught!

UK Independent reports:
A picture began to emerge over the weekend of Adlène Hicheur, 32, who works at the "Big Bang" hadron collider on the Swiss-French border, and who is likely to be formally accused today of having "links with a terrorist organisation". However, his brother, Zitouni Hicheur, 25, who was arrested with him last Thursday at their parents' home just south of Lyon, has been released. Investigators believe the elder brother – who has worked on high-level, nuclear research projects in Britain and the United States – acted alone when he sent emails to Algerian members of al- Qa'ida and listed potential terrorist targets in France.

According to the French Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, French security services fear that Adlène Hicheur was being "groomed" to become the "pivot" of a terror campaign starting in France but possibly spreading to other European countries. One worrying line of inquiry suggests that members of Eta, the Basque separatist group, had also been recruited to "case" potential targets. Contrary to earlier reports, nuclear sites are not believed to have been on the list.

French counter-terrorism and intelligence agencies have been tracking Adlène Hicheur for 18 months. Using sophisticated monitoring equipment which allows them to read emails as they are transmitted, French intelligence concluded in recent days that he had reached the "intention or desire stage" of preparing to mount an attack. READ MORE