New terror links to doctors

Jul 4 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

FRESH details emerged last night of the links between two former Merseyside doctors arrested in connection with the failed terrorist bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

A man arrested on Liverpool’s Lime Street late on Saturday night was last night named as 26-year-old Dr Sabeel Ahmed.

He practised at hospitals in Halton and Warrington and the Daily Post understands originally trained at the Rajiv Gandhi Uni- versity of Health Sciences in Bang- alore – the same institution as Mo- hammed Haneef, who was arrested at Brisbane Airport yesterday.

In 2005, Haneef, 27, was a locum at Halton General Hospital and he was arrested by Australian police yesterday after buying a one-way ticket to India.

It is believed the two doctors had also practised at the Royal Liver- pool Hospital though a spokesman declined to confirm this.

The men have been arrested under the Terrorism Act in connection with two car bombs that were found in London on Friday and after a Jeep was driven into the front of Glasgow Airport, causing a fireball.

The driver of the Jeep who was arrested at Glasgow Airport on Saturday shares the surname of Ahmed, though a family connec- tion has not been confirmed.

Another man detained along with Haneef, named in Australia as Mohammed Asif Ali, was also quizzed but has not been directly linked. Later released, it is thought he was a former colleague of Haneef’s at the Royal Liverpool.

Two men were arrested in Blackburn under terror laws yesterday but police have not con- firmed a link with the car bombs.

Liverpool MPs last night called for extra security checks and vigilance in the city’s hospitals after it emerged all seven men and one woman arrested in connection with the alleged plot had worked for the NHS. Seven are believed to be doctors or medical students and one a former lab technician.

Louise Ellman, MP for Riverside, said: "I think it is all deeply distur- bing and shows the need for increased concern and an interna- tional high level of security and vigilance. I am grateful people’s lives have not been lost but there could have been mass destruction.

"It is important everyone under- stands this is about extreme hatred and these people are motivated by that, irrespective of other charac- teristics in there lives. It does not tally with any normal reaction.

"We should increase the number of checks at hospitals, terrorism needs international intelligence and more vigilance. It is shocking to have this so close to home." Jane Kennedy, MP for Wavertree and a former health minister, said: "I am grateful for the police and security forces responses and the fact that is was foiled. I am very disappointed anyone from the NHS would be involved in something like this and concerned a plan was tried and affected our city."

Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, Stephen O’Brien, MP for Eddisbury in Cheshire, be- lieves the Department of Health’s Code of Practice needs to be ex- plained by the Government and maybe reassessed for security.

He said: "It is of grave concern that when discussing NHS matters this should become a topic. It is shocking that people who have taken the Hippocratic Oath could be involved. We should not let this tarnish our view of the thousands of Muslim foreign nationals who are so important to our health care system however.

"The Government should make clear the Department of Heath’s Code of Conduct and it is up to them to review it and see if a new process of checks should be introduced."

Forensic examinations at the two addresses raided on Ramilies Road in Allerton and Hatherley Street, in Toxteth, believed to be the former and present address of Sabeel Ahmed, are continuing.

Both roads were still blocked off and had police guards present last night, three days after police stormed into the addresses.

Four men were taken from the house on Hatherley Street but were never under suspicion and were later released without charge.

It emerged that some of the sus- pects detained following the Glas- gow and London terror attacks had appeared on MI5’s database.

Whitehall sources said that the Security Service had established "linkages" with a number of the individuals although it was not clear how much was known about them.

Nevertheless, the sources said that MI5 had been able to pass on valuable information to the police which had helped to speed up their operation.