Two Indian doctors held in connection with UK terror plot

LONDON/SYDNEY: Two Indian doctors - one from Liverpool and another from Brisbane- have been taken into custody in connection with the foiled car bombings in Britain, taking the probe into the terror plots, which has already seen the arrest of two doctors from the Middle East, to a global scale.

Australian media identified the doctor as Mohamed Haneef. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, along with other media, said Haneef, 27, was registered with the Queensland's health department as a temporary doctor on the Gold Coast starting on September 4, 2006.   

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"Doctor Haneef's records show he graduated from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in India" in 2002, the ABC said, adding that Queensland's Medical Board had confirmed his name.   

Haneef was registered "to fill an area of need as a senior house officer" at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport in the eastern state of Queensland.

Earlier, making the announcement of the arrest, Prime Minister John Howard said, "The man has been taken into custody and questioning is underway".

"There is a second person who is currently assisting the police with their inquiries and the identity of that second person arose from the discussion that occurred with the first person taken into custody," he said.

"The first person taken into custody is an Indian national who came to Australia sponsored by the Queensland health department under a 457 visa," he said.

The 457 visa programme allows migrant workers to come to Australia for temporary employment when vacancies cannot be filled locally.

The 27-year-old doctor was arrested at Brisbane International Airport on Monday night when he was trying to board a flight with one-way ticket, Attorney General Philip Ruddock earlier said.

It is understood that doctor was headed for India via the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, on a one-way air ticket, but had not resigned from his job at the Gold Coast Hospital.

Queensland Premier Beater Beattie said the Indian doctor began working at the Gold Coast Hospital in September 2006 after seeing a job advertisement in the British Medical Journal. Before coming to Queensland, the man had been working in Liverpool, England.

"No charges have been filed yet," Ruddock said.

The Indian High Commission has been informed about the arrest.

The other Indian doctor was arrested in Liverpool, but reports say that his arrest may have been a case of mistaken identity.

As ongoing investigations continue in the incidents, it is fast emerging that the suspects were doctors with "brilliant" academic achievements and references who worked in the National Health Service (NHS) as a cover for their designs.

The Muslim News, an online news outlet, reported that the doctor was a postgraduate trainee from Bangalore, and may have been confused with another associate from Halton Hospital, Cheshire, who moved to Australia a year ago.

"I believe it may be a case of mistaken identity," one of his colleagues told The Muslim News, and added that he was convinced that his associate was at least "99 per cent innocent."

The colleague said the suspect, who began work at the hospital just under a year ago, was well known in the community as he had worked with him in various hospital and community projects.

He believed he may have been detained because he had mobile chip of the other doctor and was using his internet account after he went to Australia. The doctor, which reports say was 26, was understood to have been detained when he was travelling home from Penny Lane Mosque in Liverpool late on Saturday night.

The arrested Indian doctor's old and current addresses were raided by the police, The Muslim News reported.

The arrest takes the number of suspects held in the terror plot to eight, including five doctors or other medical personnel. Two of the arrested doctors are believed to be from the Middle East.

Australian PM John Howard said the government had no information to suggest a terrorist attack on Australia was imminent.

"I do want to take this opportunity of assuring the Australian public that there has been no change to our security position, no change at all," he said.

"We have no information suggesting that there is now a greater likelihood of any terrorist incident in Australia than there was late last week," he added.

But he warned Australians not to drop their guard, as the incidents in London and Glasgow demonstrated a terrorist strike remained a possibility.

"We should not be complacent; there are people in our midst who would do us harm and evil if they had the opportunity of doing so," he said.

Howard said he intended to speak to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown later this week. "I have not spoken to Brown but I will be speaking to him later this week".

Howard said the arrest illustrated the close relationship between Australian and UK authorities.

"The events underline the very close co-operation that exists between the Australian security authorities and the British security authorities, and there has also been very close collaboration between the Australian Federal Police and Queensland police," Howard said.

Gopal Hosur, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, said in Bangalore, "Right now, we are still awaiting information from our various sources on the Indian doctor".

He also said they had so far not received any communication from the Australian police on the matter.

Vice Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences M S Prabhakaran said a student by the name Mohammed Hanif had passed out of the Ambedkar College Bangalore in 2002.

"This is what our record shows. However, as of now, we cannot confirm whether the arrested doctor and the student mentioned are the same. We can do that once we have the doctor's registration number

"Moreover, it is a common name. There are two more similar names of alumni who passed out in the same year" he said.