NEWS > 01 August 2007

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Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney
01 August 2007

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UK police admit they were caus

SCOTLAND YARD has admitted it was responsible for passing incorrect information to the Australian Federal Police that led to the arrest of the Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef.

The federal police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, had publicly blamed British police on Sunday for telling Australian investigators that a SIM card belonging to Dr Haneef was found in the Jeep that rammed Glasgow Airport on June 30.

The SIM card was in fact found in the house of Dr Haneef's cousin, Sabeel Ahmed, in Liverpool eight hours later. Dr Haneef had given it to him when he left to work on the Gold Coast.

Dr Haneef was released on Friday after a charge of providing material support for a terrorist organisation was dropped.

Scotland Yard had declined to comment on the record throughout the investigation, but a spokeswoman confirmed Mr Keelty's statement yesterday.

"Initial information provided was not correct but was quickly remedied," she said. "This had no impact on the charging decision or the subsequent action. Investigations of this nature are fast moving, complex and dynamic. Information shared with law enforcement agencies is continually updated and reviewed as further details come to light as a result of further enquiries."

She would not comment on whether Scotland Yard informed the federal police of the mistake before the Brisbane court hearing where it was used as evidence against Dr Haneef, or on whether there would be an internal inquiry into how the error was made. She also declined to comment on whether Scotland Yard would seek to extradite Dr Haneef to Britain.

On Sunday Mr Keelty defended the actions of the federal police, saying: "Errors in the investigation came to us from the UK. We were all under time pressures.

"If we had let him go we would have been accused of letting a terrorist escape our shores."

A former Scotland Yard commander, John O'Connor, told the ABC that Scotland Yard and the federal police should be embarrassed by the bungle, and that Australian police should have spent more time corroborating information from Scotland Yard before arresting Dr Haneef.

"It doesn't matter how fast moving, complex and dynamic this inquiry was. What doesn't change are the facts. It's the facts that have been relayed incorrectly and led to the federal police of Australia arresting Haneef," he said.

"To my view it is unforgivable that they are given information which is either incorrect, glossed or deliberately passed over to them. The driving force behind this was a bit of glory hunting."

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Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney01 August 2007

UK police admit they were caus

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Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney
01 August 2007