Carlos fought alongside Abu-Sharif against the Jordanian army until 1970 but the war continued to rage another year before King Hussein claimed victory over his enemy. More than three thousand Palestinians died during the conflict, during which Carlos gained the reputation as a fearless fighter and a cool calculating killer. Following their defeat, most members of the Popular Front fled to Israel rather than be taken prisoner by the Bedu army. Carlos was not among them; George Habash had other plans for his young protégé.

Carlos the "playboy," with mother and friend

He was selected for appointment as the Popular Front's representative in London. His task was to ingratiate himself into British society and draw up a list of "high profile" targets that would either be murdered or kidnapped. On his return from Jordan, Carlos was sent to another training camp to learn the "finer points" of terrorism. By February 1971, Carlos was considered ready for his appointment and traveled to London to be reunited with his family. With his mother's influence, he quickly slipped back into the "cocktail-party set" and resumed his playboy habits.

He attended the University of London to study economics and later took Russian language courses at Central London Polytechnic, all part of his carefully planned façade. His Popular Front contact in London was Mohamed Bouria, an Algerian who, as one of Haddad's most loyal followers, was responsible for European operations. In search of targets, Carlos poured over English newspapers selecting any prominent citizens who were either Jewish or had Israeli sympathies. Once he had created his list, he went to great pains to learn as much about his targets as he could, including home addresses, telephone numbers, nick names and as many personal details as he could glean. His list of names included famous film identities, entertainers politicians and prominent business figures.

By December 1971, he had compiled a detailed list containing hundreds of names. It was during this time that his early career as an undercover terrorist was almost terminated. Acting on a tip-off, members of Scotland Yard's Special Branch raided the house in Walpole Street, Chelsea, where he lived with his mother, but after searching the house, found nothing of an incriminating nature. They were led to believe that Carlos was linked to a cache of illegal weapons that had been seized in a previous raid at the house of one of his friends. Incredibly, a fake Italian passport bearing a picture of Carlos was found in the raid but the police considered it unimportant. Apart from being placed under surveillance for several days after the raid, the police left him alone. The family later moved to a new apartment in Kensington.

Maria Tobon (POLICE)

Despite his Latin American charm and impeccable manners, the many eligible young society ladies that he came into contact with often rebuffed Carlos. One woman however, was attracted by his charm but became more enamored by his political fervor. Maria Nydia Romero de Tobon was an attractive, thirty-seven-year-old Colombian divorcee who moved to London following her divorce to resume her University studies. Nydia, whose grandfather had founded the Colombian Liberal Party, was a revolutionary at heart and was won over by Carlos and the passion he showed for his cause. Some months later, Carlos successfully recruited Nydia and enlisted her aid in securing a string of safe houses for visiting envoys.

At one point she posed as the wife of Antonio Dagues-Bouvier, the Ecuadorian guerrilla who had supposedly trained Carlos in Cuba, and rented three apartments in central London. Her other duties included transporting documents and funds. Carlos would later tell investigators that he and Dagues-Bouvier had, at that time, carried out several "missions" against selected targets. No record has ever been found of any such events having occurred. The general belief is that Carlos's time in London was largely one of inactivity, while in other parts of the world; Haddad had selected others to play his deadly games.