Realterror News Articles

Third man is charged over airport attack

By John Bynorth

July 17, 2007 

Cousin appears before Australian authorities

 

A THIRD man will appear in court tomorrow in connection with the Glasgow Airport and London bomb attacks.

Indian-born Dr Sabeel Ahmed, 26, was yesterday charged under Section 38 of the 2000 Terrorism Act with possessing information which could have prevented an explosion.

His brother Kafeel Ahmed, 27, was allegedly the driver of the Jeep Cherokee which crashed into the airport’s entrance laden with gas cylinders and burst into flames on June 30, leaving him with life-threatening burns.

The incident came little more than 24 hours after police foiled a plot to blow up two Mercedes cars packed with gas cylinders, petrol and nails remotely by mobile phone detonators outside a London nightclub.

Dr Ahmed, of Liverpool, who worked at the Halton Hospital in Cheshire, will appear before City of Westminster Magistrates Court. He has been held at the high security Paddington Green police station in west London since his arrest near Liverpool Lime Street station on June 30.

Scotland Yard made the announcement after his cousin Dr Mohammed Haneef, 27, appeared at Brisbane Magistrates Court in Australia charged with “reckless support” of a terrorist organisation yesterday. The offence has a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) believe Dr Haneef concealed vital evidence “relevant” to their investigation by asking an unwitting colleague to hide his laptop computer. AFP commissioner Mick Keelty said: “The specific allegation involves recklessness rather than intention.”

Last week, Dr Bilal Abdullah, also 27, a locum at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley and allegedly the Jeep’s passenger, was remanded in custody after being charged with conspiracy to cause explosions in Glasgow and London. His next hearing is at the Old Bailey on July 27.

Dr Haneef was arrested on July 2 at Brisbane airport after buying a one-way ticket to India, via Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, where he claimed he was heading to see his wife and their new new-born daughter.

He is alleged to have provided a mobile phone Sim card to Dr Sabeel Ahmed and Kafeel Ahmed before leaving Britain to work at a Queensland hospital last year. He denies any involvement in the attacks.

Reports in the Australian media claimed that he sent an email to a colleague after the failed attacks saying that he had to leave Australia in a hurry, but made no mention of his wife or child.

Police disclosure documents seen by an Australian newspaper appear to show Dr Haneef told investigators he once lived with Kafeel and Dr Sabeel Ahmed in Liverpool. He is also alleged to have told them he was in close contact with the latter until shortly before June 29, when the London bombs were discovered.

He admitted to twice visiting Cambridge in 2004, to see Kafeel Ahmed who studied for a PhD in engineering at the city’s Anglia Polytechnic University, the reports added. It was there that Dr Haneef admitted to police that he knew a Bilal – Dr Abdullah’s first name.

Despite that, he claimed never to have heard of the other suspects, including Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, a Saudi-born neurosurgeon from Newcastle-Under-Lyme, and two junior doctors aged 25 and 28, who were arrested at an accommodation block attached to the RAH.

Dr Haneef allegedly told police he left his mobile phone with Dr Sabeel Ahmed. He was allegedly in contact with his cousin on June 26, when the latter emailed to congratulate him on the birth of his child.

On July 2, Dr Haneef arranged for a colleague to collect his laptop, car and items of jewellery for safe-keeping from the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland before he tried to catch his flight.

A hand-cuffed Dr Haneef, dressed in a brown pullover, check shirt and slacks, showed little emotion as he heard the case against him from the security-encased dock during the 90-minute hearing.

His legal team will apply for him to be freed on bail at a hearing tomorrow. The court was unable to make a decision yesterday because of the case’s complexity and volume of documents.

Speaking from their home in Bangalore, Haneef’s wife Firdous said: “The police were aware from day one that he had left his SIM card with his cousins. They could not find anything substantial. Hence, they have charged him with this.

“I was expecting them to release him, but they have decided to frame these charges after such a long delay. Was there anything wrong in his having a communication with his cousins?”

Last Thursday, Dr Asha’s wife, Marwah, 27, was released without charge from questioning in London. Police have until today to charge or apply for more time to question the two junior doctors, who are believed to be Saudi or middle-eastern.

Officers were yesterday afternoon given until July 21 to continue questioning Dr Asha.

Kafeel Ahmed, 27, the alleged Jeep driver, remains critically ill with 90% burns in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where he is under police guard.

http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1546345.0.third_man_is_charged_over_airport_attack.php