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LONDON: An Indian doctor accused over last month's failed car bombings in Britain was remanded in custody Monday but plans to plead not guilty to a withholding information charge, his lawyer said.
Sabeel Ahmed, 26, is the third person to have been charged over the failed attacks, in which two cars laden with gas canisters were left in central London on June 29 and, the following day, a sports utility vehicle was driven into Glasgow airport, bursting into flames.
Ahmed, dressed in traditional white robes and with shoulder-length black hair and a black beard, spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth at a preliminary hearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court.
The suspect is the brother of Kafeel Ahmed, 27, who was arrested after the attack at Scotland's biggest airport. Also a suspect, he is critically ill with burns in hospital.
Sabeel Ahmed sat with his arms folded throughout the 20-minute hearing, before being remanded in custody until August 13. His solicitor Nadeem Afzal said that he intended to plead not guilty.
"You will be remanded in custody for the reasons put forward by the prosecution," District Judge Anthony Evans told Ahmed.
He could make his next court appearance by video link, he was told before being led from court.
The medic from Bangalore, was arrested in Liverpool, north-west England, on June 30. He worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, south-east of the city.
He is charged under Section 38 of the Terrorism Act with knowingly withholding information that might have led to the arrest of another person preparing or engaging in an act of terrorism.
Ahmed is one of eight people who were arrested in connection with the attack.
British police have charged 27-year-old Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla in connection with the London attempts. He was remanded in custody earlier this month, accused of conspiracy to cause explosions.
Australian police have accused Ahmed's cousin, fellow Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, 27, of providing "reckless" support to a terrorist organisation, a charge under which he faces a maximum 15-year penalty.
Haneef was granted bail in Brisbane on Monday, but the Australian government then ordered him to be locked up in immigration detention after cancelling his visa.
Jordanian doctor Mohammed Asha, 26, remains in custody and detectives have until Saturday to question him.
Three of those arrested have been released. The eighth suspect is Kafeel Ahmed.
Meanwhile Admiral Alan West, Britain's security and counter-terrorism minister, said up to 30 Islamist militant cells are plotting attacks and they are monitoring 2,000 suspects and another 2,000 sympathisers.
Lord West told BBC radio that the scale of the security operation was "quite dramatic" as he backed extending the 28-day limit on the time suspects can be held without charge.
"There are 30 that are actually being looked at very closely indeed because they have got to the stage where they are gathering materials and doing things which could lead in fairly short term to doing something if they wanted to," said the former chief of defence intelligence.
"This means that effectively about 2,000 individuals are being monitored in varying degrees of closeness and probably about another 2,000 loosely connected to them. The scale of this whole thing is quite dramatic." - AFP/yy
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