Terror probe: suspect held in Australia

A doctor is being held in Australia as part of the investigation into car bombing attempts in Britain by a suspected al-Qaeda cell.At least three of the eight people arrested so far in connection with the planned attacks in London's West End and at Glasgow Airport are believed to be doctors.A plot to blow up two cars packed with nails, gas and petrol in the capital was foiled by chance on Friday. Almost 36 hours later, two men drove a blazing Cherokee Jeep into the entrance of the Scottish airport.In the latest arrest, a 27-year-old man was held at Brisbane Airport as Australian Federal Police and Queensland Police carried out searches at the Gold Coast Hospital, in Southport, Queensland, where the registrar worked.Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters: "The first person taken into custody is an Indian national who came to Australia sponsored by the Queensland health department."Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who confirmed a second doctor is being quizzed, said the first, named by local media as Dr Mohammed Haneef, had worked in Britain in March 2006 but applied to the Brisbane hospital through a UK medical journal.Dr Haneef was reportedly offered the position on June 20, and started work on September 4, as a junior doctor who was supervised by more senior staff.Meanwhile, according to the Muslim News, a 26-year-old doctor arrested at the weekend in Liverpool may have been mistaken by authorities for Dr Haneef, as both worked at Halton Hospital in Cheshire.The arrested man was using a mobile phone SIM card and web account that had previously belonged to Dr Haneef.The Muslim Council of Britain has condemned the barbarity of the failed attacks as it called on its faithful to provide "all the necessary support" to prevent terrorism.Secretary general Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari said it was the "Islamic duty" not only to utterly and totally condemn such actions, but to provide all the support necessary to prevent such atrocities from taking place.He said: "It looks sadly as if the terror threat currently facing our country will be with us for some time to come. So let us be absolutely clear about this, that those who seek to deliberately kill or maim innocent people are the enemies of all of us."Those who engage in such murderous actions and those that provide support for them are the enemies of all, Muslims and non Muslims, and they stand against our shared values in the UK."The driver of the burning Jeep used in the Glasgow Airport attack on Saturday remains in a critical condition at the Royal Alexander Hospital in Paisley. The other man is believed to be an Iraqi doctor called Bilal Abdulla who worked at the hospital.On Monday, Strathclyde Police arrested two men aged 28 and 25 at the hospital after "intensive police operations". Several controlled explosions have been carried out while staff accommodation was also searched.Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told the Commons that 19 UK addresses have been searched as part of the inquiry.They include the Newcastle-under-Lyme home of Dr Mohammed Asha, who was arrested with his wife on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday night. He trained in Jordan and worked at North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.A house in Priam Close, Bradwell, with links to Dr Asha was also searched.Meanwhile, according to US reports, law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago which warned of a possible terror attack in Glasgow against "airport infrastructure or aircraft".An unnamed senior official said Federal Air Marshals had been assigned to flights into and out of both Glasgow and Prague in the Czech Republic.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | July 3, 2007

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