A CONTROLLED explosion was carried out today on a suspicious car parked outside a mosque in Glasgow.
A CONTROLLED explosion was carried out early today on a suspicious car parked outside a mosque in Glasgow.
Police were called to the car park at Forth Street Mosque in Pollokshields and took bomb disposal experts with them as a precaution.
It came as an eighth person was arrested in connection with the failed car bombings at Glasgow Airport and in London.
The man - named as 27-year-old Mohammed Haneef - was detained by police at Brisbane Airport in Australia. He reportedly had a one-way plane ticket to India.
Reports said Haneef was a Indian doctor, who had worked in Liverpool before moving to Queensland's Gold Coast to work at a hospital last September, after seeing a job advertised in the British Medical Journal.
A second doctor at the hospital was being questioned by police because of information divulged by Haneef.
Today's controlled explosion on the suspect vehicle in Glasgow was carried out by an Explosives Ordnance Disposal team at 5am.
The car was taken away for detailed forensic examination.
Police said the car was brought to the attention of police last night.
A spokeswoman added there was no need to evacuate local residents, but Forth Street was closed and a cordon remained in place.
She said: "We wish to emphasise there is nothing to suggest any connection between the mosque and the events over the past few days."
The Masjid Noor Mosque is in the heart of Pollokshields and is an integral part of the community for Muslims in the area.
It is in a residential area and just yards from one of the main shopping areas in Albert Drive.
Police said today they were carrying out searches of a number of premises and vehicles.
The three terror suspects who were being held at Govan police station have been transferred to London.
 |  |  |  |  |
They were taken south in an unmarked convoy early today.
The transfer was authorised by Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini QC, who said: "This decision has been taken in the public interest, as part of a joint police investigation, to facilitate the wider investigation into the events in London and Glasgow and to allow, in due course, a single prosecution of these connected events."
Meanwhile, civilian heroes who tackled the Glasgow Airport bombers are to be officially recognised, First Minister Alex Salmond said today.
He said the reaction of both the public and emergency services to the incident was "fantastic", adding that the country showed it would not be defeated by terrorism.
And there was heightened security in the city today with a visit by Prince Charles to carry out a series of engagements.
Charles was hosting a historic cricket match between India and Pakistan at the Clydesdale cricket ground in Titwood as well as visiting a business in Paisley.
A spokeswoman for Clarence House would not comment on any extra security for the prince, saying only that the situation was being kept under constant review.
In Australia, a spokesman for the Federal Police said the man arrested at Brisbane Airport was "assisting police with inquiries".
He said: "Acting on intelligence from UK authorities, a 27-year-old man was last night detained at Brisbane Airport.
"No charges have been laid."
Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the man was not an Australian citizen but had been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital.
He added: "The individual was seeking to leave Australia and did not have a return ticket."
Police have executed a number of search warrants across Queensland state, including at the hospital where the man worked, but Mr Ruddock said there was no sign Australia was a target for attack.
A Queensland medical board official confirmed the arrested man was Muhammad Haneef.
Prime Minister John Howard identified him as an Indian national who had been granted a temporary work visa last year.
Meanwhile, reports today said US law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago which warned of a possible terror attack in Glasgow against "airport infrastructure or aircraft".
A senior official told ABC News the intelligence led to the assignment of Federal Air Marshals on flights to and from both Glasgow and Prague, in the Czech Republic.
US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff declined to comment on the report, but said "everything we get is shared virtually instantaneously with our counterparts in Britain and vice versa".
Strathclyde Chief Constable Willie Rae said his force had been given no prior warning of Saturday's attack on Glasgow Airport.
At a press conference after the incident, he said: "There was no prior intelligence to suggest that Scotland was going to be the target of a terror attack."
