UK/FILE: Doctor in court over failed June car bombings, two arrested after suspicious chemical found

Record ID: 721402

  • Title: UK/FILE: Doctor in court over failed June car bombings, two arrested after suspicious chemical found
  • Date: 21st July 2007
  • Summary: (BN09) UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - 2007) (AMATEUR VIDEO) WIFE OF ASHA WALKING WITH INFANT INFANT IN PARK, PLAYING WITH PIGEONS DR. MOHAMMED ASHA WATCHING CHILD PLAY / FREEZE FRAME OF ASHA (MUTE)
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA6U0LTKZLP5CAZBGFQAE5H03Q5
  • Story Text: A Jordanian doctor has appeared in court in Britain charged in connection with the failed car bombings in London and Scotland last month.
    Mohammed Jamil Asha, who's 26, is alleged to have conspired with two other men, Bilal Abdullah and Kafeel Ahmed, to cause explosions "likely to endanger life".
    Asha was arrested on the M6 motorway in Cheshire on June 30, hours after a car was driven into Glasgow Airport and set ablaze.
    Born in Saudi Arabia, Asha qualified as a doctor in Jordan in 2004 before moving to Britain that year to pursue postgraduate studies in neurosurgery. Asha worked as a doctor at a hospital in central England. He was arrested while travelling to the north of England by car. Asha is married with a son. His wife, Marwa Asha, was arrested with her husband but later released without charge.
    Asha was brought under heavy police guard to City of Westminster Magistrates Court, London on Friday (July 20) where he was remanded in custody to appear at London's Old Bailey court on July 27.
    Iraqi-trained doctor Abdullah has already been charged with the same offence as Asha. Indian engineer Ahmed is seriously ill in hospital after being burned in the Glasgow attack. That came just 36 hours after police in London found two cars packed with fuel, gas tanks and nails. One was outside a crowded nightclub.
    Police believe the two incidents were linked. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said al Qaeda could be behind the suspected car bomb plots.
    Two other men have also been charged in connection with the incidents, including Ahmed's brother Sabeel, and Sabeel's second cousin Mohammed Haneef, who is detained in Australia.
    British police said on Friday (July 20) they'd arrested two men this week - an Afghan and Somali - under anti-terrorism laws after finding two containers marked "hydrogen peroxide" in a flat they were searching in the city of Bristol. The chemical is used to bleach hair but was also used in the 2005 suicide bombings in London which killed 52 commuters.
    Britain has seen a marked increase in terrorism-related plots since the September 11 strikes on the United States and its decision to join U.S. forces invading Iraq in 2003. Britain's security minister said this week the country faced a threat from more than 200 militant cells and were monitoring about 4,000 individuals.
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