|
Third charge over UK attacks
14/07/2007 16:45 - (SA)
London - A third man was charged on Saturday in connection with last month's failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, police said.
Sabeel Ahmed, a 26-year-old Indian doctor, was charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 and will appear before City of Westminster Magistrates Court in central London on Monday, the Metropolitan Police said.
The charge comes after Australian police charged Ahmed's cousin, Mohammed Haneef, 27, earlier on Saturday with providing "reckless" support to a terrorist organisation allegedly behind the three failed bombings on June 29 and 30.
Haneef, also an Indian doctor, has been in custody in Australia following his arrest on July 2 in the eastern city of Brisbane as he was attempting to leave the country on a one-way ticket.
Ahmed was arrested in Liverpool, north-west England, on June 30, the day a flaming Jeep Cherokee slammed into the main terminal building of Glasgow Airport.
He worked as a doctor at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire, also in north-west England.
Scotland Yard said he is accused of having information that could have helped police prevent another person committing an act of terrorism or arrest and prosecute them for terrorist offences.
A Mercedes Benz car packed with nails and gas canisters was discovered near a central London nightclub in the early hours of June 29, two days after new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to office. Another was found nearby.
The Glasgow attack the following day prompted Britain to raise its security alert level to "critical" - the highest and indicating an attack was imminent. The alert has since been downgraded to "severe", the second highest, which means an attack is still highly likely.
Police initially detained eight people on suspicion of involvement in both incidents - seven in Britain and one in Australia.
The wife of one of the suspects was released from custody without charge on Thursday. The first to be charged, 27-year-old Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla, appeared in court last Saturday and was remanded in custody.
He was in the Jeep with Sabeel Ahmed's older brother, Kafeel Ahmed. He was allegedly driving the sports utility vehicle and suffered serious burns that have left him in a critical condition and under armed guard in hospital.
Three people arrested in the immediate aftermath of the attacks remain in custody this weekend. They are Jordanian doctor Mohammed Asha, 26, and two trainee doctors aged 25 and 28, whose identities have not yet emerged.
Under British law police can detain and question them for up to 28 days, subject to regular judicial review.
Scotland Yard will have to apply to a magistrate this weekend if they want to hold them further.
|
News
