Australia steps up probe into UK bomb plot

Australia steps up probe into UK bomb plot
By Virginia Marsh in Sydney and agencies
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: July 6 2007 09:02 | Last updated: July 6 2007 11:07


Australia on Friday stepped up its investigation into last weekend’s failed car bombings in the UK with police launching fresh raids, seizing hospital computers and interviewing more doctors.

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“There are a number of people now being interviewed as part of this investigation,” said Mick Keelty, the country’s police chief. “It doesn’t mean that they’re all suspects but it is quite a complex investigation and the links to the UK are becoming more concrete.”

He said those being interviewed had included four Indian doctors who had since been released. The moves follow Monday’s arrest at Brisbane airport of Mohamed Haneef, a 27-year-old Indian doctor, as he was trying to flee the country on a one-way ticket. Dr Haneef is believed to be related to Sabeel Ahmed and Kafeel Ahmed, two of the seven individuals detained in the UK after the three failed car bombings in London and Glasgow.

The two brothers, who worked for the National Health Service in Britain, had also applied to work as doctors in Australia but were turned down because they lacked the necessary qualifications, Geoff Dobb, the president of the Australian Medical Association in Western Australia, told the Associated Press. Dr Haneef has yet to be charged but has had his detention order extended for the third time, for a further four days.

On Thursday a court judge in Queensland granted Australian police and a senior British counter-terrorism officer an extra 96 hours to question Dr Haneef.

He is the first person to be held under controversial new anti-terrorism laws that Australia passed in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.

Dr Haneef had been working at Queensland’s Gold Coast but Friday’s raids took place at two hospitals in Western Australia. Mr Keelty said police had seized hospital computers and were examining more than 30,000 files.

He added that police were examining Dr Haneef’s laptop computer and a Sim card mobile phone device he left with one of the British bomb suspects.

”We are largely focusing on the high-tech material, computer files, and obviously they take some time to work through, particularly if they are in a foreign language,” Mr Keelty told journalists.

The investigation had also been extended to a third Australian state of New South Wales, where another doctor was questioned. “The linkages are with people who are known to each other and that’s prompting the further inquiries,” said Philip Ruddock, Australia’s attorney-general.