Indian doctors held in Australia, UK for terror links
Two Indian doctors have been held in Britain and Australia in connection with last week’s failed terror attack in the UK as the hunt for conspirators intensified across the globe.
By PTI |
LONDON/MELBOURNE: Two Indian doctors have been held in Britain and Australia in connection with last week’s failed terror attack in the UK as the hunt for conspirators intensified across the globe.
An unidentified 26-year-old Indian medico has been arrested in Liverpool in Britain in connection with the plot to target London and Glasgow, a media report said.
He is a post-graduate trainee doctor from Bangalore, Daily Telegraph said. Another Indian doctor was detained in Brisbane, Australian prime minister John Howard said in Canberra. The person detained in Australia has been identified as 27-year-old Mohammed Haneef who has studied in Rajiv Gandhi University in Bangalore, Australian media reported.
The person “taken into custody is an Indian national who came to Australia sponsored by the Queensland health department under a 457 visa,” he told reporters without giving details about him.
“The man has been taken into custody and questioning is underway,” he said, adding, “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.”
Haneef, Registrar at Gold Coast Hospital, was held last night at Brisbane international airport when he was trying to leave the country on a one-way ticket, officials said.
An unidentified 26-year-old Indian medico has been arrested in Liverpool in Britain in connection with the plot to target London and Glasgow, a media report said.
He is a post-graduate trainee doctor from Bangalore, Daily Telegraph said. Another Indian doctor was detained in Brisbane, Australian prime minister John Howard said in Canberra. The person detained in Australia has been identified as 27-year-old Mohammed Haneef who has studied in Rajiv Gandhi University in Bangalore, Australian media reported.
The person “taken into custody is an Indian national who came to Australia sponsored by the Queensland health department under a 457 visa,” he told reporters without giving details about him.
“The man has been taken into custody and questioning is underway,” he said, adding, “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.”
Haneef, Registrar at Gold Coast Hospital, was held last night at Brisbane international airport when he was trying to leave the country on a one-way ticket, officials said.
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“No charges have been filed yet (against Haneef),” attorney general Philip Ruddock said. Police in Bangalore said they were awaiting information about the detained person. The Indian High Commission in Australia has been informed about the detention. It is understood that the 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.
Haneef had been employed at the hospital as a junior doctor on a temporary visa since last September after being recruited by the Queensland government from Liverpool, in north-west England, under a much-hyped overseas recruitment drive.
He had reached Australia on a ‘457 visa’, a special scheme of the government that allows migrant workers to come to the country for temporary employment when vacancies cannot be filled locally.
Citing government records of Queensland state, ABC channel said Haneef was registered with the state health department as a temporary worker.
With the two being taken into custody, the number of people held in connection with the failed attacks has gone up to eight, six of them being doctors. Gopal Hosur, joint commissioner of police, crime, told PTI in Bangalore: “Right now, we are still awaiting information from our various sources on the Indian doctor.”
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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 MS Prabhakaran said a student by the name Mohammed Hanif had passed out of the Ambedkar College Bangalore in 2002.Download
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