M A I N   N E W S

Australia frees one doctor; Haneef’s custody extended
without charge
Doc detained in UK is also an Indian

London/Melbourne, July 4
The third Indian doctor, detained in the failed terrorist plots in London and Scotland, was identified as a man from Bangalore and related to Dr Muhammed Haneef, whose detention in police custody had been extended for two more days in Australia.

The doctor taken into custody in Liverpool last Saturday was named as 26-year-old Sabeel Ahmed, who was also the classmate of Haneef in Ambedkar Medical College in Bangalore.

Ahmed's mother said in Bangalore that he was related to Haneef, who is being interrogated by the Australian police.

Both Haneef and Ahmed had worked together in Halton Hospital in Cheshire in 2005 and the latter is still working there.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in Melbourne that it was important to remember that Haneef had not been charged.

"I must stress that the man has been detained, taken into custody but has not been charged with any offence," he said. Howard also said Britain was sending a top police officer to Australia to question Haneef.

Australian federal police commissioner Mick Keelty said the authorities were granted permission to hold Haneef for another 48 hours without charge and cautioned he might yet be fully cleared of any connection to the terror plots.

Mohammed Asif Ali, the second Indian doctor detained, along with Haneef in Australia, was released without any charge after being questioned. Keelty said Ali had not committed any crime and was free to go about his business. Ali and Haneef previously worked in Liverpool and lived together.

Muhammed Haneef and Sabeel Ahmed are among the eight persons--one in Australia and seven in the UK-- being detained by the police in connection with the failed terror plots. All of them are medically trained.

British security experts are considering relaxing the official estimate of the terrorist threat to the UK from "critical" to "severe" meaning slight reduction in security procedures and controls.

The move comes as the first phase of the investigation--rounding up suspects to prevent further attacks--was drawing to a close. Investigators are now focussing on analysing evidence and interviewing the suspects.

Meanwhile, a senior Indian diplomat in Queensland said the authorities in Australia had not provided any information about Haneef.

"The consul had asked the Australian police to provide details about Haneef but till now had got no further information," Queensland-based Indian consul Savra-Daman Singh told PTI.

"We are just aware that the suspect name is Dr Mohamed Haneef and that he is from India. Apart from this, we have no other information," he said.

"We only know he is in police custody and is being interrogated," he said adding that the reason for this could be that matter was a delicate issue at this point.

"We do not know his address in India, we do not know his passport number, we do not know his date of birth, there are no details to go on," Singh said.

"That was the end of it. We tried to find these things out (but) we could not glean that information from those who perhaps know." — PTI