U.K. Bomb Plot Doctors May Include Two Brothers From India

By Nick Allen

July 5 (Bloomberg) -- Two of the doctors arrested in connection with a terrorist plot to explode car bombs in the U.K. may be brothers from India, a U.K. security official said.

One of the men drove a Jeep Cherokee that crashed into a Glasgow International Airport terminal on June 30. He was in critical condition in a Scottish hospital after suffering severe burns and police haven't yet been able to question him.

The hospitalized man may be the brother of a 26-year-old doctor from Bangalore who was arrested in Liverpool on July 1, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The 26-year-old worked at the Halton Hospital in Cheshire, England. Mohammed Haneef, 27, another Indian doctor who was arrested in Australia, had also worked at that hospital.

The day before the Glasgow attack, police dismantled two car bombs made from gas canisters, gasoline and nails parked in London's theater and shopping district. A total of seven people have been arrested in the U.K. and one in Australia. All are non- British Muslims who had worked in the state-run National Health Service.

The driver of the Jeep Cherokee, and his passenger, wrote a suicide note before the attack, CNN reported.

One of those being questioned, neurosurgeon Mohammed Asha, spent several months in 2005 at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, a health service official said today. One of the other suspects may have lived in the city, the Cambridge News reported.

Tighter Immigration Rules

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who replaced Tony Blair two days before the London car bombs were found, yesterday announced tighter rules on immigration in response to the incidents. He told Parliament his government will expand the U.K.'s Warnings Index, a terrorism ``watch list,'' to include more people and will widen the background checks of migrants entering to fill highly skilled jobs such as those in the medical profession.

Employers and individuals sponsoring workers from abroad will now have to be registered with the government and undergo a background check.

The U.K. reduced its terrorist-threat level to ``severe'' from ``critical,'' Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

The level was raised to ``critical,'' the highest on a five- tier scale, after the London car bombs were found. ``Critical'' means a terrorist attack is expected imminently, while ``severe'' means intelligence officials believe an attack is highly likely.