Aussies file charges in UK Doc plot

Independent:

Australian federal police today charged an Indian doctor with providing support to a terrorist organisation after allegedly discovering links between him and last month's failed British bomb plots.

Muhammad Haneef, 27, is the second person in the country to be charged over the failed attacks on London and Glasgow, Scotland on June 29 and 30. The other is Bilal Abdullah, who is accused of conspiring to set off explosions in Britain.

"He has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organization," police said in a statement. The maximum penalty is 15 years in prison.

Haneef, who has already been held in custody for 12 days, was expected to appear before the Brisbane Magistrates Court in Queensland state later today.

Haneef, who came to Australia from Britain last year to work in a Queensland state hospital, is a distant cousin of Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, two of the suspects held in Britain.

The three reportedly shared a house in the British city of Liverpool for up to two years before Haneef moved to Australia, and remained in contact by phone and online messaging after that.

Australian officials have said that Haneef was arrested after his mobile telephone's SIM card was found in the possession of one of the British suspects, later identified by media reports as Sabeel Ahmed, a 26-year-old doctor being questioned by British police.

Official documents cited by The Australian newspaper yesterday said Haneef gave the SIM card to Sabeel Ahmed before he moved to Australia from Britain last year so that his cousin could take advantage of free minutes left on his mobile phone plan.

Local media reported that the SIM card transfer was the basis for Haneef's charge.

Calls to the Australian Federal Police for confirmation were not immediately returned, but police chief Mick Keelty was expected to hold a news conference today.

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I think other things may be at work here. Lending a SIM card does not sound all that ominous. I think the Aussies were working under a deadline that would have released the suspect if charges were not filed and they viewed what they had as adequate to hold them while the investigate further. Perhaps there is other evidence that has not been revealed. It does not sound like they were willing to rely on a UK like control order to keep him under surveillance.