Medical tie stuns Britain - Several sources link 8 in health care as suspects in attacks

Medical tie stuns Britain - Several sources link 8 in health care as suspects in attacks
By Tom Hundley
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published July 4, 2007

LONDON -- Already reeling from the news that at least three of the suspects arrested in last week's failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow are doctors, Britons now are trying to cope with the possibility that all eight of those arrested so far were employed by the publicly funded National Health Service.

Although British police have said they believe the attacks were planned by Islamic militants, authorities have not yet officially named any of the suspects. But several have been named in media reports relying on police sources, hospital officials, co-workers, relatives and neighbors.

"Like others, we were shocked to hear of the recent attempted bombings," said Dr. Hamis Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association. "The news that members of a caring profession may be involved in these atrocities was even more appalling."

Unlikely suspects

One suspect, Mohammed Asha, is a 26-year-old neurosurgeon and Jordanian citizen of Palestinian descent. He graduated from the University of Jordan in Amman in 2004 and won a place at the University of Birmingham's medical school the following year. He began working for the NHS in Shrewsbury and Telford in 2006 and recently moved to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, 35 miles from Liverpool.

He and his wife, Marwah Da'na Asha, a lab technician at the same hospital, were arrested by police late Saturday on a highway about 12 miles from their home.

Azmi Mahafzah, one of Mohammed Asha's instructors in Jordan, said he knew him during his studies and training from 1998 to 2004. "I didn't even have the impression that he was religious," he told The Associated Press. "He is not a fanatic type of person."

His father, Jameel Abdul-Qader Asha, told the Los Angeles Times that his son had been more interested in science than religion. "He didn't have time to scratch his head," he said. "All he did was study."

Two other suspects have been identified as Bilal Abdullah and Khalid Ahmed. Abdullah, an Iraqi, obtained his medical degree in Baghdad in 2004 and began working for the NHS in Scotland the same year. He served as a locum, or temporary substitute doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital near Glasgow, specializing in the treatment of diabetes, according to co-workers.

Ahmed is a doctor at the same hospital, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. He is believed to have driven the Jeep Cherokee that slammed into the Glasgow Airport terminal Saturday in an unsuccessful suicide bombing attempt, while Abdullah was a passenger in the car.

A fourth doctor, Mohammed Haneef, 27, an Indian national, was arrested by Australian police Monday at Brisbane Airport in Queensland as he tried to board a flight to India with a one-way ticket, Australian authorities said.

Like Asha and at least one other suspect, Haneef had been living in the Liverpool area until September when he accepted a position as registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport, near Brisbane.

"He was very quiet, unassuming; he spoke with an English accent," said Steve Bosher, Haneef's landlord in Australia.

Bosher said by phone that Haneef and his wife lived unobtrusively in their two-bedroom apartment. "They were obviously very religious," he said. "She wore a head scarf, but he was a doctor. He dressed the way you expect a doctor to dress."

'Gobsmacked' by arrest

Bosher said Haneef's wife had returned to India several weeks ago. When he learned of his tenant's arrest, Bosher said he was "gobsmacked."

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said Haneef "was regarded by the hospital as, in many senses, a model citizen -- excellent references and so on."

Another suspect arrested in Liverpool on Sunday trained at the same medical school in India as Haneef, according to British media reports.

Two others arrested since the plot began to unravel and whose names have not been made public appear to have worked as junior doctors or medics for the NHS in Royal Alexandra in Glasgow, according to British media reports. They have been described as Saudi nationals.

Shock, outrage and unease greeted the news that so many suspects are in the medical profession. But the British Medical Association's Meldrum said he hoped that a backlash against foreign doctors could be avoided.

"Overseas doctors have made an invaluable contribution to the NHS over the years and it would be dreadful if the trust that exists between patients and doctors, whatever their background, was harmed by these events," he said in a statement.

The British health-care system relies heavily on doctors who receive their training abroad. The General Medical Register shows that 128,000 of Britain's 277,000 doctors have degrees from foreign medical schools.

As shocking as it is for doctors to have possibly been involved in a terrorism plot that could have killed or maimed hundreds, it is not unheard of for highly educated people to be drawn to extremist organizations. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top deputy in Al Qaeda, is a medical doctor.

On Friday, London police defused two large car bombs targeted at the heart of the city's theater and entertainment district. The following day, Ahmed and Abdullah allegedly drove the Jeep Cherokee packed with propane canisters into the main terminal of Glasgow Airport.

The vehicle burst into flames, but it did not explode. The only serious injury was sustained by the driver, who was seen pouring gasoline over himself. He is now being treated for serious burns in the same Glasgow hospital where he once treated patients.

Police were reportedly hot on the trail of Abdullah and Ahmed based on information they gleaned from cell phones left in the London car bombs. The cell phones were supposed to serve as detonators.

Two more suspects were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offenses Tuesday in Blackburn, an industrial town near Manchester, but it was unclear if these arrests are connected with the London and Glasgow incidents.

Heathrow bomb scare

London remained on edge Tuesday after a bomb scare at Heathrow Airport shut down one of its four terminals for several hours. Rush-hour commuters in the city also were delayed when police carried out a controlled explosion at the Hammersmith Underground station after a suspicious package caused alarm.

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thundley@tribune.com