Prosecutors in Milan have dropped charges of international terrorism against a man originally accused of being a member of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The charges were dropped due to a legal technicality.

Ben Hani Lased, who had been tracked by Italian secret police since his arrival in the country, is still accused of criminal association with intent to traffic in arms, explosives and chemical agents, and of receiving and trafficking false documents.

Meanwhile, police in Germany have raided six apartments and a book shop in Hamburg where they arrested six alleged members of a terrorist network, but there was no evidence that the men had been planning attacks.

Not enough

Western intelligence believes that al-Qaeda has been using the Milan area of Italy as a major logistics base, providing documents and support to active units.

German police are still hunting two other suspects

Italian police alleged Mr Lased was an expert in explosives.

In a report on him drawn up after recording telephone calls he made, investigators say his associates spoke of the need to strike quickly and of using "a suffocating liquid that kills people efficiently".

Legal experts said this was unlikely to be sufficient to convict him of plotting terrorist attacks, so prosecutors had opted for a softer charge of being a middleman for a terrorist network.

No concrete links

German police are still looking for a further two men believed to belong to an alleged terrorist network based in Hamburg.

One of the men who has been taken into custody is already under investigation over his alleged links with some of the suicide bombers behind the 11 September attacks on the United States.

Three of the pilots lived and studied in the northern city of Hamburg, including ringleader Mohammed Atta.

But prosecutors said there was no indication that the group played a role in the attacks.

The eight suspects are aged between 28 and 51, and originate from Morocco, Afghanistan and Egypt, according to police.