Haneef to be questioned by UK officer

A British counter-terrorism expert will, on Thursday, interrogate Indian Mohammed Haneef who has been detained in connection with the UK terror plot as the medico was granted consular access.

The officer, a chief inspector with Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Unit, arrived in Brisbane airport on an early morning flight from London via Singapore and was immediately whisked away by Australian Federal Police officers.

The lady officer is expected to interrogate Mohammed Haneef, the Indian medico detained under Australia's anti-terror laws at Brisbane international airport on Monday.

The Australian and British counter-terrorism officials will have about 12 hours of interview time with Haneef under a court order, which will have to be completed by Friday, the Herald newspaper said.

Meanwhile, the doctor has been granted consular access.

A consul met Haneef, who was detained at Brisbane international airport on Monday, Deputy High commissioner Vinod Kumar told PTI but declined to give further details.

He said further details will be disclosed through Indian government back home.

Haneef, who has been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital, is one of 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.

However, according to Queensland-based Indian diplomat Sarva-Daman Singh no further information about Haneef was received from Australian government.

Singh said Haneef had earlier contacted the consul to contact his wife in India.

There had been only one communication from Haneef -- when he was allowed to contact the consulate some hours after his arrest on Monday night, Singh told PTI on Thursday.

Another diplomatic source said Haneef's family had proclaimed their son's innocence, but there were fears that he might have fallen in with 'the wrong crowd' while in Britain last year.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty has said there was a lot more evidence to justify the arrest of Haneef than just mobile phone records.

He said police had gathered a considerable amount of material from search warrants executed across south-east Queensland.

Health authorities have confirmed Haneef had emergency leave from the hospital to visit his ill wife and newborn daughter in Bangalore.

Federal police are highly unlikely to seek an extension of time to detain Haneef without charge, according to sources quoted by The Age newspaper.

He cannot be extradited without having been charged.

If charges are not laid by Friday, it is expected he will be released by the weekend.