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Two arrested over attempted attacks in Glasgow and London are released

16 Jul 2007

TWO men arrested at a Paisley hospital in connection with last month’s attempted terrorist attacks on Glasgow and London were released without charge yesterday.

The pair, aged 27 and 24, had been arrested in an accommodation block at the Royal Alexandra Hospital early on 2 July, two days after the failed attack on Glasgow Airport.

Neither man has been identified, but they are believed to be a junior doctor and a medical student.

They were initially held by Strathclyde Police, before being transferred to the high-security Paddington Green police station in west London.

Police had until yesterday to charge or release the pair, or apply to a magistrate for further time for questioning.

The men were freed a day after officers were given another week to continue questioning another suspect – Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, who was arrested on the M6 in Cheshire hours after the Glasgow terminal building was targeted.

He was detained with his wife, Marwa Asha. She was released last Thursday without charge.

Another man, Dr Sabeel Ahmed, 26, who has been charged by police with possessing information which could have prevented an act of terrorism, is due to appear before magistrates in London today.

Ahmed, from Bangalore in India, was arrested in the Lime Street area of Liverpool hours after the Glasgow attack. He worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire.

The Metropolitan Police said Ahmed had been charged under Section 38 of the Terrorism Act, with having information which he “knew or believed may be of material assistance in preventing the commission by another of an act of terrorism”.

Two men drove a blazing Jeep into the front of the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport at 3:15pm on 30 June. It failed to explode and caused only limited damage.

The attack came 36 hours after the discovery of two cars packed with fuel, gas tanks and nails primed to explode in central London. Police believe the incidents are linked.

Ahmed’s brother, Kafeel Ahmed, 27, who is believed to have been the Jeep’s driver and was badly burned in the airport fire, remained in a critical condition in Glasgow Royal Infirmary last night.

Bilal Abdullah, a 27-year-old doctor who worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, was charged last week by police with conspiring to set off explosions.

Muhammad Haneef, 27, a distant cousin of the Ahmeds and who once shared a house with the brothers in Britain, was charged on Saturday in Brisbane, Australia, with supporting a terrorist group.

He is accused of giving his mobile phone SIM card to the brothers when he moved to Australia last July. He faces a maximum 15 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors allege Haneef would have known about the Ahmed brothers’ alleged links to terrorism.

Haneef was remanded in custody in Brisbane until at least today while a magistrate decides whether to release him on bail. However, the Australian attorney-general said that he would not be extradited while he faces charges in the country.

Philip Ruddock said the case would probably be tried in Australia. He said: “Australia would not normally surrender a person for extradition where there were outstanding matters that had to be dealt with here.”

But Stephen Keim, Haneef’s lawyer, yesterday said his client only left the SIM card with Sabeel Ahmed so that his cousin could take advantage of a special deal on his mobile phone plan.

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1105672007

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