Sabeel Ahmed returns to Bangalore

Indian doctor Sabeel Ahmed, who had been held in United Kingdom in connection with the failed Glasgow terror attack, arrived in Bangalore in the early hours of Thursday.

He arrived in Bangalore at 3.45 am IST by the British Airways flight escorted by three Scotland Yard detectives and was whisked away by the security personnel through a rear exit.

Sabeel, 28, was received by his mother Zakia Ahmed at the airport and driven away to his residence Banashankari in Bangalore after giving the waiting media personnel a slip. The media personnel could barely catch a glimpse of Sabeel, sporting a beard, seated in the backseat, as the car sped away.

However, Zakia Ahmed told reporters told reporters at their residence that she was happy to see her son back home and did not wish anyone to disturb him. “He is tired after the journey and has gone to sleep”, said Zakia Ahmed, who is a retired professor of medicine.

Zakia Ahmed also told the waiting media personnel that Sabeel was reluctant to speak to the media representatives. “I will try my best to convince him to speak to the media. But, it will take some time. Let him settle down first”, she said.

However, she said Sabeel’s return was an emotional one for her. Though Sabeel did not cry, Zakia Ahmed admitted that tears had rolled down her cheeks when he son wished her on his return. “Anybody can understand a mother’s feeling”, she said.

Sabeel’s return to Bangalore has been facilitated by a direction from a London court release him from custody and deport him to India as he had not been found guilty of any terror act in United Kingdom.

Sabeel, who had already spent 270 days in custody after his arrest from Liverpool on June 30, 2007, had been charged with withholding information about the planned car bomb attack at Glasgow airport.

Sabeel, who is working as a doctor in northwest England, is the younger brother of Kafeel Ahmed, an engineer, who drove a jeep filled with propane canisters into the airport in the failed terror strike. Though the burning vehicle failed to break through the glass doors, Kafeel died in a hospital due to 90 per cent burn injuries.