By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Britain has lowered its national terror threat level from 'critical' to 'severe' and has announced new checks on foreign doctors and health professionals who seek employment in the National Health Service (NHS).
All the eight people arrested for the attempted car bombs in London and Glasgow last week are associated with the NHS, as doctors, health professionals or students. Two of the eight arrested suspects are Indian citizens.
The two Indians are Mohammad Haneef, who was arrested in Brisbane, and Sabeel Ahmed, who was arrested in Liverpool. Kafeel Ahmed, who received 90 percent burns in the Glasgow airport car blaze, is also a doctor and is reported to be the brother of Sabeel Ahmed.
Announcing the lowering of the threat level, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said there was "no intelligence" to suggest another terrorist attack was imminent. She underlined that the review did not mean the overall threat had disappeared and urged the public to remain vigilant.
She said in a statement: "Today (Wednesday) the Joint Terrorism and Analysis Centre (JTAC) changed the national threat level from critical to severe. There is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is expected imminently.
"The decision to change the threat level is made by JTAC based on the very latest intelligence, considering factors such as capability, intent and timescale. As I said on Saturday, the threat level is kept under constant review."
In the House of Commons, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that security checks on skilled migrants such as NHS workers would be stepped up in the wake of the car bomb plots.
Brown pledged that the government would expand its worldwide "watch list" of potential terrorists. Details of stricter background checks on foreign doctors were announced but Brown said that the new security minister, Lord West, would carry out an immediate review of NHS recruitment.
Brown told MPs: "Let me tell you what we will do. We will expand the watch list. We will expand the background checks that are being done where there are highly skilled migrant workers coming into this country. When people sponsor them, we will ask them to give us their background checks.
"Thirdly, as a result of what has happened in the NHS, I've asked Lord West, the new terrorism minister, to conduct an immediate review as to what arrangements we must make in relation to recruitment to the NHS because of what we know has happened over the last few days.
"Finally, we will want to sign new agreements with other countries round the world so we act together to deal with the potential terrorist threat and we are able to deport people to countries where they should be, rather than in this country."
The eight suspects in the attempted car bombs are:
1. Iraqi doctor Bilal Talal Samad Abdullah was arrested at Glasgow Airport Saturday following the failed car bombing. He works at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley as a diabetes specialist.
2. Mohammad Asha, a doctor, 26, who lives in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. He was arrested on the M6 motorway in Cheshire Saturday night. Asha is of Palestinian descent but grew up in Jordan.
3. Marwah Dana Asha, the 27-year-old wife of Mohammed Asha, a fellow Palestinian who trained as a laboratory researcher.
4. Mohammad Haneef, 27, is an Indian citizen who was detained at the Brisbane Airport while trying to board a plane to India with a one-way ticket. Haneef studied medicine at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Bangalore from 1997-2002, achieving a second-class degree.
5. Sabeel Ahmed, 26, a doctor currently working at the Warrington Hospital in Liverpool. He was arrested near Liverpool's Lime Street station Saturday night. He is from Bangalore and trained as a doctor at the city's Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.
6. Kafeel Ahmed is the second man arrested at the Glasgow Airport Saturday with 90 percent burns due to the car blaze. According to the BBC, he is the brother of Sabeel Ahmed. Kafeel is also reported to be a doctor but is not listed in the General Medical Council's register.
7. A 28-year-old unnamed man was arrested in Paisley Sunday. Several media reports say that he is a medical student working at the Royal Alexandra Hospital but officials have not confirmed this.
8. A 25-year-old man was also arrested in Paisley Sunday. There are unconfirmed media reports that he too is a medical student at the same hospital.