Haneef was 'in touch' with UK terror suspects

Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, charged with supporting a terrorist organisation, was in frequent and extensive contact with two men at the centre of Britain's car-bomb plot on the eve of their failed terror attacks, a media report said on Tuesday.

The online communication between Haneef and the bomb plotters was prolific and that authorities have gathered significantly more evidence against him than that has been disclosed publicly, The Australian reported.      

Authorities believe Haneef's attempted hasty exit from Australia on July 2 was directly linked to the arrest of his cousin Kafeel Ahmed, who suffered 90 per cent burns after the failed Glasgow airport attack on June 30.

Computer records obtained by authorities reveal Haneef's close links to both Kafeel and his brother Sabeel continued right up until the failed bombings in Glasgow and in London's West End on June 29, it said.

They also garnered evidence that Haneef's attempt two weeks ago to leave Australia for India on a one-way ticket after the terror attacks in Britain was not linked to family issues, as his relatives have claimed.      

In his message sent to a relative in Bangalore hours before he tried to leave the country, Haneef made no mention of wanting to leave Australia to visit his baby, born in Bangalore on June 27, or for other family reasons.

This is supported by testimony given to authorities by Haneef's colleagues at Gold Coast Hospital. They said Haneef had made no mention of his planned trip to India, and had commented often about how well it worked to have his family living in India while he was working in Queensland.