By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Indian national Kafeel Ahmed, who moved to Britain for higher studies and ended up with 90 per cent burns in a blaze after driving a jeep into Glasgow airport on June 30, succumbed to his injuries on Thursday evening.
The death of Bangalore-origin Ahmed, 27, deprives security forces of a crucial link in the network that carried out the attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow. He was one of two men arrested at the Glasgow airport, the other being Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah.
Ahmed died in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary where he was transferred from the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. Throughout his stay in hospital, he was kept under armed guard.
A spokesman for Strathclyde police said: “We can confirm that the man seriously injured during the course of the incident at Glasgow airport on Saturday, June 30, had died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
“The man died last evening and the circumstances surrounding the death have been reported to the procurator fiscal.”
The severity of his injuries from burns led medical experts to predict that he would not survive even a week after the airport incident. During his treatment, one of the medical team who treated him said his condition was “beyond repair”.
Ahmed was in a coma most of the time he was in hospital. Reports from Glasgow say that the decision to keep him alive on life-support systems had more to do with politics than clinical judgment.
One medical source estimated the combined cost of round-the-clock security and medical treatment for Ahmed since the attack had reached £150,000. Special sharkskin implants costing £20,000 were reportedly being used to treat his injuries.
Ahmed initially enrolled as a student at the Queen’s University, Belfast, in 2001 and remained in Northern Ireland until 2004. He later studied for a Ph.D in the department of design and technology at the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.
Bilal Abdullah, Ahmed’s companion in the jeep, was charged with conspiracy to cause explosions on July 6, while Ahmed’s brother, doctor Sabeel, has been charged under the Terrorism Act.