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Airport terror attack suspect dies of burns
 
Kafeel Ahmed, below, was left horribly burned after the incident at Glasgow Airport
Kafeel Ahmed, below, was left horribly burned after the incident at Glasgow Airport
 
 
John Smeaton and Gordon Brown
John Smeaton and Gordon Brown
 

A terror suspect being treated for burns following the car bomb attack on Glasgow Airport has died in hospital.

Kafeel Ahmed, 27, was in a specialist unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary after the incident on June 30.

PM welcomes hero' Smeaton

A BAGGAGE handler who tackled an alleged terrorist was hailed a "hero" by Gordon Brown today when he met the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street.

John Smeaton, 31, shot to fame after helping police tackle a man who was in a blazing jeep that had been driven into the Glasgow Airport terminal building.

The PM agreed to meet Mr Smeaton to thank him personally after being told he was in London to film a television interview.

After showing him around No 10, Mr Brown said: "This is a brave and courageous man and the country owes John a debt of gratitude. He is a hero and we're proud of him."

After a short private chat with the Prime Minister, Mr Smeaton, on his first visit to London, said he was "honoured and bewildered." Standing in the famous street he said: "I can't believe it. He's such a nice man, a true gentleman. I'm totally stunned. I'm lost for words for once in my life."

Mr Brown hinted Mr Smeaton and other members of the public who intervened could receive honours for their efforts alongside the emergency services involved.

A police spokesman said: "We can confirm that the man seriously injured during the course of the incident at Glasgow Airport on Saturday June 30 has died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary."

He said the man died last night, adding: "The circumstances surrounding the death have been reported to the procurator fiscal."

Ahmed was under police guard after being transferred from the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

He was said to have suffered 90% burns and spent 33 days in hospital.

The engineer, from Bangalore, India, was one of two men held at the airport after a burning car was driven into the terminal building.

Fellow suspect Bilal Abdullah, 27, an Iraqi doctor, was arrested and charged with conspiring to cause explosions "of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury".

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "We understand that the suspect being treated following the Glasgow Airport attack has now died.

"It was perfectly right that he should have received the appropriate treatment our health service could offer as this reflects the value our society places on human life.

"The focus now should be on the criminal investigation that is under way."

The Glasgow Airport attack followed two suspected car bomb attempts in central London when police discovered two vehicles allegedly filled with gas canisters and fuel.

Eight people were initially held over the incidents, of which three were eventually charged.

Mohammed Asha, 26, of Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire, was arrested on the M6 motorway near Sandbach, in Cheshire, on the day of the airport attack.

He is accused along with Abdullah of conspiring to cause explosions between January 1 and July 1.

Dr Sabeel Ahmed, 26 and from Liverpool, is accused of not disclosing information that could have helped police arrest a suspected terrorist.

Ahmed was the only one of all eight people arrested in connection with the attacks who did not appear to have direct links to the NHS.

Abdullah had been working at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, where Ahmed was initially taken for treatment.

Asha had been working at North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.

The two men are expected to appear at the Old Bailey on September 10 for a committal hearing.

Bangalore-born Sabeel Ahmed, said to have worked at a hospital in Warrington in the past, is the brother of Kafeel Ahmed.

Publication date 03/08/07

Posted by: ross, glasgow on 1:02pm Fri 3 Aug 07
good.hope he suffered.
has the hospital rang the cleansing department to pick it up yet.
Posted by: kcw1980, london on 1:13pm Fri 3 Aug 07
well done smeato :o)
Posted by: bill mac, kinshasa on 1:40pm Fri 3 Aug 07
Oil up 'em Virgins....as a comin' !!!
Posted by: kazlau, Bearsden on 3:35pm Fri 3 Aug 07
I wonder how much it cost to keep in the high dependency unit for 33 days? At least we don't have to pay to keep in jail for the rest of his life!
Posted by: West Ender, Glasgow on 4:10pm Fri 3 Aug 07
A punishment that may seem on the surface as harsh for the crime on the surface BUT befits the REAL crime that was intended.
Posted by: Aly, knightswood on 4:14pm Fri 3 Aug 07
`Twas doon by the inch o' Abbots Oor johnny walked one day When he saw a sicht that troubled him Far more that he could say A fanatatic muslim **** Wiz doin what he'd planned
And intae Glesca's departure hall
A cherokee he'd rammed
A big glaswegian polis
Came foward tae assist
He thocht "a wumman driver"
Or at least someone half-****
But to his shock nae drunken Jock
Emerged to grasp his hand
But a flamin arab loony
Frae Al Queada's band
The mad Islamist nut-case
Had set hissel' on fire
And had swung oot at the polis
GBH his clear desire
Now that's no richt wur Johnny cried
And sallied tae the fray
A left hook and a head butt
Required tae save the day
Now listen up Bin Laden
Yir sort's nae wanted here
For imported english radicals
Us scoatsmans huv nae fear
Oor hame grown Glesca Asians
Will have nae bluidy truck
So tak yer worldwide jihad
And get yerself tae F***
Posted by: tam-m, southside on 5:07pm Fri 3 Aug 07
kazlau wrote:
I wonder how much it cost to keep in the high dependency unit for 33 days? At least we don't have to pay to keep in jail for the rest of his life!
£5.000/day that did not include the security costs
Posted by: Big Al, Paisley on 6:03pm Fri 3 Aug 07
So what now, do they return the body to Bangalore for burial ?
Posted by: joemaxi, glasgow on 6:21pm Fri 3 Aug 07
big aly,s poem should be in song
so here it is to the tune of
"ye canny fling pieces oot a multi storey flat"

`Oh,Twas doon by the inch o' Abbots Oor johnny walked one day,
When he saw a sicht that troubled him Far more that he could say
A fanatatic muslim **** Wiz doin what he'd planned
And intae Glesca's departure hall
A cherokee he'd rammed

chorus:
ow ye canny ram jeeps intae the glesga airport doors
when forty thousand punters are tryin tae leave these shores
you,ll have to deal with smeato and a glesga polis man
the odds against ye breaching us are 99/1




Oh A big glaswegian polis
Came foward tae assist
He thocht "a wumman driver"
Or at least someone half-****
But to his shock nae drunken Jock
Emerged to grasp his hand
But a flamin arab loony
Frae Al Queada's band

Chorus:

The mad Islamist nut-case
Had set hissel' on fire
And had swung oot at the polis
GBH his clear desire
Now that's no richt wur Johnny cried
And sallied tae the fray
A left hook and a head butt
Required tae save the day

Chorus:

Now listen up Bin Laden
Yir sort's nae wanted here
For imported english radicals
Us scoatsmans huv nae fear
Oor hame grown Glesca Asians
Will have nae bluidy truck
So tak yer worldwide jihad
And get yerself tae F***

Chorus:

Posted by: Agnes McNab, Canada on 7:42pm Fri 3 Aug 07
tam-m - it cost that much for his stay in hospital not including security, yet my oldest sister in Scotland waited ten months for surgery last year and by the time that happened, she passed away. Unreal. The same thing happens here and in the U.S.A.
Posted by: teamdroid on 10:12pm Fri 3 Aug 07
For folk moaning about the costs: remember that in trying to keep this swine alive, a lot of medical practitioners will have learned a lot about dealing with severe burn trauma. They probably got to try some new techniques and see how they worked. So the only real impact of his attempt to kill people, will ultimately be to help save lives.

Hopefully someone told him that - a fact that would have hurt more than the burns.
Posted by: Scottish Rose, U.S.A. on 11:46pm Fri 3 Aug 07
GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!
Posted by: Biffo the bear, beano town on 5:39pm Sat 4 Aug 07
tam-m wrote:
kazlau wrote:
I wonder how much it cost to keep in the high dependency unit for 33 days? At least we don't have to pay to keep in jail for the rest of his life!
£5.000/day that did not include the security costs
The total cost per day with everything involved was £30,000,so that comes to just over a £1,000,000..Now excuse me while i go & scream,ahhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhh.Waste of money for a dirty scumbag terrorist when there are people out there needing treatment who deserve it
Posted by: bill mac, kinshasa on 8:26pm Sat 4 Aug 07
Has he got a BIG suprise coming to him......
Posted by: TamTheBam, usa on 7:42pm Sun 5 Aug 07
oh goodness gracious me ,i was so sorry to read that only one of them died.those flaming jeeps are hotter than vindaloo. rot in hell ya dobber.
Posted by: Spero.meliora, Glasgow on 10:45pm Sun 5 Aug 07
Surely instead of sending his body back where he might be treated in death as a `Muslim Hero` heading for Nirvana with 25 virgins to make his next life more comfortable. Can anyone possibly argue that he might, just might, be innocent of the crime of trying to bomb innocent men; women and children? Given that he is 100% guilty of this crime, in death he should still be punished by having his remains cremated and his ashes scattered in the cold dark north sea. This just might deter future Bombers from thinking that if they succeed and kill themselves in the process they will be riding in a Golden Chariot - no! They will be at the bottom of the deep dark sea.
Posted by: John Kebab, Glasgow on 10:37am Mon 6 Aug 07
There should be some sort of rule that for an incident of this nature - once it is established it was a terror attack - the injured person should get thrown out of hospital with 2 paracetomol and a tubi grip.

In this case, ideally thrown out the hospital into a pool of vinegar.
Posted by: tam-m, southside on 12:35pm Mon 6 Aug 07
why he was given this care of treatment beggars belief they should have just rubbed salt in his wounds.joemaxi, glasgow on 6:21pm Fri 3 Aug 07Aly, knightswood on 4:14pm Fri 3 Aug 07 good posts.
Posted by: joan-joan, Glasgow on 4:03pm Mon 6 Aug 07
Wrap the **** in pigskin!
Posted by: Ronnie Cee, Leeds on 4:09pm Mon 6 Aug 07
Well now, he was after 70 virgins so what the hell was he doing in Glasgow?
Bought the Evening Times to read all about the Rangers fans giving us The Sash and Derry's Walls up in Inverness. What a shocker, they haven't even mentioned it!
Keep up the good 'non-sectarian' work ET. We are so very proud of your efforts in the anti bigot campaign.
Sorry I had to use this site as you have no other where a decent comment could be made.
Posted by: Stu, Edinburgh on 5:18pm Tue 14 Aug 07
Oi get yer hauns off my original song! It is no big Aly's and all rights reserved or I'll set Smeato on ye.

It already has a tune, far superior to the skyscraper song. It is the Seven Men O Knoydart.

Might huv tae sing it oan YouTube to stop the thousands of posters who have cut 'n pasted MY POME to counteless blogs from claimin it as their own.....
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