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028. UK Terror Investigations - News Roundup - July 6
July 6, 2007
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/07/uk-terror-july-6.php

UK Terror Investigations - News Roundup - July 6

By Jeffrey Imm

July 6 news roundup of UK terror plot investigation activities and related news:

First Car Bomb Terror Plot Charge. Daily Telegraph reports that prosecutors have given the approval to police for Dr. Bilal Abdulla to be the first Jihadist car bomb suspect to be charged over Glasgow and London attacks. "Crown Prosecution Service said it was advising Scotland Yard to charge Bilal Abdulla with conspiring to cause explosions."

British Prime Minister Says Investigators Figuring Out Terrorist Cell. RFERL and other media have reported that "British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says investigators have "got to the bottom of the cell" responsible for last week's attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow. Brown said the incidents were 'designed to cause maximum carnage.'"

London Times: Bombing plots "were carried out with bin Laden's blessing". The London Times is exclusively reporting that "The London and Glasgow bomb plots were carried out with the approval of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, a top foreign intelligence source said last night. 'It was an established fact from Day 1 that al-Qaeda was behind this and it was planned by its followers in Great Britain with bin Laden's blessing,' the source told The Times. British security officials were more guarded, saying that it was too early to say whether the plot was masterminded by some foreign hand or hatched in Britain."

UK Bombs plot investigators look at role of al-Qaida cells in Iraq. London Guardian states that "MI5 and MI6 were yesterday investigating the role of al-Qaida cells in Iraq as they began to build up a picture of the foreign contacts of those involved in the plot to bomb London and Glasgow."

UK: "Sleeper Agent" Omar Altimimi sentenced to 9 years in prison. As Sky News reports: "Failed asylum seeker Omar Altimimi has been sentenced to nine years in jail after being discovered with a collection of terror manuals." London Times reports that Altimimi had instructions on "how car bombs can be detonated at the entrances to buildings via remote control" and that he "hoarded car bomb manuals". The London Times also reports that, in addition to instructions on various types of suicide bombing techniques, that Altimimi had "poisonous cyanide gas using tablet capsules which would kill humans within minutes, a shopping list of common substances for use in home-made bombs and a “chilling” reference to the use of radioactive radium in explosives." Prosecutors believe that Altimimi was linked to the Dhiren Barot British Jihadist group through connections with convicted terrorist Junade Ferouze. Reuters also reports that Manchester police called Altimimi a sleeper agent, and was likely planning to attack nightclubs and airports.

UK Bombers Connection in Cambridge and Links to Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The Australia reports today that four of the UK car bomb suspects spent time working or studying, "where some of them socialised and prayed with members of the radical group Hizb ut-Tahir." Dr. Bilal Abdulla, Dr. Mohammed Asha, 26, and his wife, Dana (Marwah) "worked together at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge in 2005." Dr. Kafeel Ahmed "studied as an engineer at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge at that time and is believed to have made the group's bombs. Dr Ahmed previously had been named as a doctor whose first name was Khalid. His brother Sabeel Ahmed, who was arrested in Liverpool, visited him in Cambridge and met his friends. Hizb ut-Tahir member Shiraz Maher told the BBC's Newsnight program the men seized in Glasgow shared the group's beliefs and associated with followers in Cambridge." BBC program "Politics of Terror" first reported that the Cambridge cell of Hizb-ut-Tahrir tried to recruit Dr. Bilal Abdulla.

U.K. terror suspects made U.S. inquiry. AP reports that the "FBI confirmed Friday that two suspects in the failed car bombings in Britain had contacted a clearinghouse for foreign doctors about working in the United States". AP reports "Mohammed Asha and another suspect had contacted the Philadelphia-based Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, but apparently did not take the test for foreign medical school graduates". Mohammed Asha was arrested on the M6 highway Saturday night along with his wife. Philadelphia Inquirer also has news report on this subject.

Australia Five ex-NHS doctors quizzed over UK bombs. Daily Telegraph reporter in Australia reports that police are questioning four doctors in western Australia and 1 doctor in Sydney, as well as confiscating computer equipment. Per the Telegraph: "All five had previously worked in the NHS in Britain and had come into contact with Mohamed Haneef" - who was the Australian doctor who attempted to leave the country. Also per the Telegraph: "Police in Western Australia seized evidence, including computers and telephones, from two hospitals, one in the state capital, Perth, the other in the Outback gold mining town of Kalgoorlie." BBC provides a timeline on the Australian investigative activities.

Australian Dr. Haneef still being questioned. London Times reports that "[y]esterday a judge in Queensland granted Australian police and a senior British counter-terrorism officer an extra 96 hours to question Dr Haneef. Police are examining more than 30,000 files on Dr Haneef’s laptop computer and a Sim card mobile phone device he left with one of the British bomb suspects.".

Indian police question doctors' families. DPA reports that the "Crime Branch of the Bangalore police launched a full investigation into the terrorist plot, and on Thursday night questioned the family of Kafeel Ahmed and Sabeel Ahmed, both brothers, who are among the eight suspects in the case".

Indian doctor tells family he is working on confidential global warming project. The Times of India reports that Dr. Kafeel Ahmed told his family that "I am involved in a large scale confidential project. It is about global warming. I cannot reveal the details. It involves a lot of travelling. I have to present a lot of papers at various places. The project has to be started in the United Kingdom. After starting it there, I will come back to Bangalore and continue it from here." Dr. Kafeel Ahmed is being treated for burns in Glasgow attemped car bombing. Times of India also reports that "He had also told his mother and sister that his earlier presentation failed and asked them to pray for him this time." Investigators are tying to decipher if this is referring to to a terrorist attack. Guardian reported today that Dr. Kafeel Ahmed was being transfered to a specialist burns unit and is still in critical condition.

Terror Profiling Not Permitted by UK Police. Daily Express reports that "officers carrying out spot checks at key sites have been told not to target people based on their ethnicity or age." Police officer source told the Daily Express: "At the moment we are stopping middle class, white pensioners and while we are searching their vehicle another car with four men of Middle Eastern or Asian appearance goes sailing past towards the airport and we have missed them."

Follow-up on Stolen NHS syringes used in failed car bomb attacks. The Daily Mail has a follow-up story on stolen NHS syringes used in the London car bombs. ABC reported this on July 4 afternoon.

Australia and UK Doctors looking for work. Dr Khalid Ahmed and his brother Sabeel both sought medical work in Australia, per Australian news media.

NHS recruitment substandard compared to other nations. Daily Mail is reporting that UK National Health Service recruitment standards are substandard, and that "two of the suspects in the car bomb plot who got jobs as doctors with the NHS were turned down by Australia because of their stricter controls."

UK Imams largely come from Pakistan. BBC and the Daily Telegraph did reports on foreign countries that imams are sourced from, with statistics showing a large number from Pakistan.

Sources:

Daily Telegraph: Glasgow terror plot police charge first suspect

RFERL: British PM Says Investigators Figuring Out Terrorist Cell

London Times: Bombing plots "were carried out with bin Laden's blessing"

Guardian: Bombs plot investigators look at role of al-Qaida cells in Iraq

Sky News: Terror Plotter Jailed For Nine Years

London Times: 'Clean skin terrrorist' guilty of hoarding car bomb manuals

AP: British court convicts man of having terrorist manuals, and money laundering

Reuters: Britain convicts al-Qaida "sleeper" agent Omar Altimimi

The Australian: Cambridge ring linked to bombs

BBC Video "Politics of Terror" focuses on Hizb ut Tahrir

AP: U.K. terror suspects made U.S. inquiry