Contact of Ex-Spy Leaves London Hospital

The club badge is seen on a section of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in north London, Wednesday Dec. 6, 2006. Faint levels of radioactive polonium-210 have been found at two locations at the stadium, where Andrei Lugovoi, a key figure in the investigation of the death of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, attended a soccer match on Nov. 1, a British official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) (Matt Dunham - AP)

ABC News reported that British detectives had identified Lugovoi as a prime suspect in Litvinenko's poisoning. The report cited an unidentified senior British official.

British police have publicly named Lugovoi only as a witness. A British government official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said Lugovoi was "one of many people investigators are looking to question but I wouldn't call him a suspect at this point."

"We're also looking at the possibility there were criminal gangs involved," he said. "I think the investigation will take a very long time but I doubt any one person will be named or implicated in the end."

Lugovoi told the ITAR-Tass news agency that he was undergoing special tests for possible radiation contamination, and that the results would be ready in a few days.

He said he was prepared to answer all the British investigators' questions.

"I intend to fully satisfy their interest and am waiting for an invitation from the law enforcement organs," he was quoted as saying.

"Once I give all the necessary testimony to the law enforcement organs, I intend to publicly put an end to (speculation) about my supposed involvement in this story that has caused such a stir," he said.

Lugovoi traveled to London three times in the month before Litvinenko's death and met with Litvinenko four times, according to Russian media.

Litvinenko's funeral is expected to take place before the end of the week.

His father Walter told Radio Liberty that his son had converted and wished to receive a Muslim burial.

"He told me about his decision two days before he died. He said, 'Papa, I have to talk to you about something serious. I've become a Muslim.'"

An ally of the dead man said the ex-spy had converted to Islam on his deathbed.

"He told me that he wanted to convert to Islam literally in his first days in the hospital," said Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev.

"I did not pay a lot of attention to this," Zakayev told Radio Liberty, "but he returned to the theme again and again."

Zakayev said that on Nov. 22, the day before he died, Litvinenko was visited in hospital by an imam, who read a Quranic verse traditionally said over the dying.

Litvinenko's friend Alex Goldfarb confirmed an imam had visited him in the hospital, "when he was heavily sedated and on the verge of death."

He said he did not know whether his friend had converted.

"He was basically a non-religious person as long as I knew him," Goldfarb said.