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BRISBANE - Australian and British counter-terrorism officers are on a tight deadline to quiz an Indian doctor detained in Brisbane about the foiled UK bomb attacks.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) are understood to have a court order allowing them to hold Indian national Mohammed Haneef, 27, only until late tonight without charge.
An unidentified female chief inspector from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Unit is expected to arrive in Brisbane this morning to speak to Dr Haneef about the foiled attacks in London and Glasgow.
Haneef, who has been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital, is one of six doctors arrested in connection with the plot and the only person detained outside Britain.
British health authorities have confirmed he worked part-time in 2005 at the same hospital in north-western England as another arrested doctor.
A second doctor from the Gold Coast Hospital, Mohammed Asif Ali, has been cleared after questioning.
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.
Prime Minister John Howard says Haneef is innocent until proven otherwise.
The registrar was arrested on Monday night at Brisbane airport as he was about to leave the country on a one-way ticket.
But health authorities have confirmed Haneef had emergency leave from the hospital to visit his ill wife and newborn daughter in Bangalore, India.
His father-in-law has blamed the trouble on a SIM mobile phone card the doctor gave to a friend when he left Britain for Australia.
Federal police are highly unlikely to seek an extension of time to detain Haneef without charge, according to sources quoted by The Age newspaper today.
He cannot be extradited without having been charged.
If charges are not laid by tomorrow, it is expected he will be released by the weekend.
- AAP
