The arrest in Pakistan of up to three British men allegedly caught meeting local militants was on Friday night being heralded as the key breakthrough that helped foil a suspected terrorist plot to blow up US-bound aircraft, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.

One of those arrested, Rashid Rauf, was named by Pakistan’s interior minister as a “key person”. Aftab Khan Sherpao told AP Mr Rauf had ties with al-Qaeda and added: “We arrested him from the border area and on his disclosure we shared the information with British authorities which led to further arrests in Britain.” It was unclear on Friday night whether he was related to Tayib Rauf, one of those arrested in Birmingham in Wednesday night’s UK raids.