UK terror plot: One of 3 Indian docs released

One of the two doctors who were detained in Australia in connection with the failed terrorist plots in London and Scotland has been released.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty on Wednesday said Mohammed Asif Ali was released without any charge after being questioned.

Keelty said Ali had not committed any crime and was free to go about his business.

Ali and Haneef previously worked in Liverpool and lived together.

'I am totally unaware of anything,' he was quoted as saying in the The Age on Wednesday.

'Please leave me alone. I don't know anything,' he said.

Ali and Haneef lived several blocks apart from each other during their time on the Gold Coast. Haneef's car was found in Ali's garage. Haneef is reportedly understood to have also left a laptop computer with Ali.

But when asked if Ali had either returned to work or been allowed back at Gold Coast Hospital, a spokeswoman for his employer was circumspect.

"We are actually awaiting advice from the Australian Federal Police with regards to Ali at the moment," said a hospital spokeswoman.

Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson said he was concerned that Ali had been publicly named 'far too early,' making it difficult for him to stay on at the Gold Coast Hospital.

Meanwhile, the third Indian doctor detained in Liverpool was identified as a man from Bangalore and related to Dr Muhammed Haneef, whose detention in police custody was extended for two more days in Australia.

The doctor taken into custody in Liverpool last Saturday was identified as 26-year-old Sabeel Ahmed, who was also the classmate of Haneef in Ambedkar medical College in Bangalore.

Ahmed's mother said in Bangalore that he was related to Haneef, who is being interrogated by the Australian police. Both Haneef and Ahmed had worked together in Halton hospital in Cheshire in 2005 and the latter is still working there.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in Melbourne that it was important to remember that Haneef had not been charged.

"I must stress that the man has been detained, he has been taken into custody, he has not been charged with any offence," he said.

Howard also said Britain is sending a top police officer to Australia to question Haneef.

Keelty said authorities were granted permission to hold Haneef for another 48 hours without charge and cautioned he may yet be fully cleared of any connection to the terror plots.

Muhammed Haneef and Sabeer Ahmed are among the eight persons -- one in Australia and seven in the UK -- being detained by police in connection with the failed terror plots.

All of them are medically trained.

British security experts are considering relaxing the official estimate of the terrorist threat to the UK from 'critical' to 'severe' meaning slight reduction in security procedures and controls.

The move comes as the first phase of the investigation--rounding up suspects to prevent further attacks -- was drawing to a close. Investigators are now focusing on analyzing evidence and interviewing the suspects.      

Meanwhile, a senior Indian diplomat in Queensland said authorities in Australia have not provided any information about Haneef.

"The consul had asked Australian Police to provide details about Haneef but till now has got no further information," Queensland-based Indian consul Savra-Daman Singh told PTI.

"We are just aware that the suspect name is Dr Mohamed Haneef and that he is from India. Apart from this we have no other information," he said.

"We only know he is in police custody and is being interrogated," he said, adding that the reason for this could be that matter was a delicate issue at this point.

"We do not know his address in India, we do not know his passport number, we do not know his date of birth, there are no details to go on," Singh said.

"That was the end of it. We tried to find these things out (but) we could not glean that information from those who perhaps know."

According to sources, Sabeel Ahmed's colleagues have claimed he has been the victim of mistaken identity, having been thought to be Dr Haneef.

Haneef is described by colleagues as a 'model citizen.' He qualified as a doctor in Bangalore in 2002, and moved to Liverpool, where he worked as a locum registrar at Halton General. He moved to Australia last September.

Shankar Bidri Additional DGP (Law and Order) said Bangalore police were conducting inquiries after it was revealed that two of the arrested doctors were from Bangalore.

So far no terror links have been established during investigation of family members of Haneef, he said.