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More grilling for terror suspect
09/07/2007 08:38 - (SA)
Sydney - Counter-terrorism police were on Monday set to interrogate a doctor detained in Australia in connection with attempted car bombings in Britain once again, as time to hold him ran out, officers said.
The latest interview of Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, who was detained a week ago as he allegedly tried to leave Australia on a one-way ticket, was set to take place a day after police searched his home for a second time.
A court order issued last week allowed authorities to hold Haneef without questioning him until Monday night and to then quiz him for another 12 hours, starting when his current detention order expires at 07:05.
"We have an additional 12 hours of interview time beginning when the dead time ends this evening, so that will take us well into Tuesday," a spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police said.
"We will then still have some time afterwards to allow the person to have rest and meal breaks," she told AFP.
Authorities will then have to charge, release or launch extradition proceedings against Haneef, unless a court grants a further extension of his detention order.
Global investigation
But as the global investigation into a possible ring of jihadist doctors widened, officials said it was unclear when a decision on Haneef's fate would be taken.
Haneef was arrested on July 2 on a tip-off from British police in the eastern Australian city of Brisbane after seven people, including at least four foreign doctors, were detained in Britain over three failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.
He is the cousin of two of the suspects being held in Britain, including another doctor and one of the men suspected to have driven a flaming jeep into the main terminal of Glasgow airport on June 30.
A senior British counter-terrorism expert is in Brisbane assisting the investigation that has resulted in the questioning of a total of seven Indian-born doctors in three Australian states.
Only one of the men has been detained. The other six were released after questioning on the understanding that they will be available for further questioning if needed, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has said.
- AFP
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