Man remanded over alleged terror plot

An Iraqi doctor has appeared in court charged in connection with the car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

Bilal Abdulla appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London accused of plotting to cause explosions.

The 27-year-old, who was a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Scotland, was remanded in custody until July 27.

Abdulla was arrested after a blazing Jeep was driven into the main building at Glasgow Airport a week ago.

The doctor has been charged with conspiring to cause explosions under the 1883 Explosive Substances Act.

The charge alleges that during the first six months of this year he "unlawfully and maliciously conspired with others to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the United Kingdom".

The charge carries a maximum sentence of life.

Six other people are being held in the UK after the failed bombings in the two cities and one is being held in Australia in connection with the incidents.

Those held in Britain include two trainee doctors, aged 25 and 28, who were arrested at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley.

Another is a man thought to be the driver of the jeep who was arrested at Glasgow Airport and is being treated for burns at a Glasgow hospital.

The others detained include Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, who was arrested with his wife, Marwa Asha, on the M6 motorway near Sandbach in Cheshire last Saturday.

The same day a 26-year-old doctor from Bangalore, India, who worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire, was arrested in Liverpool.

In Australia, another doctor - Dr Mohammed Haneef, 27, who once worked at the Halton Hospital in Runcorn - is being quizzed by police.

And several other doctors of Indian origin with experience working in the UK have also been questioned in Australia.

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