Glasgow effect: UK to review its policy to screen foreign doctors

British Home Secretary, Jaqui Smith, said the decision to lower the threat from “critical” to “severe” had come after the authorities concluded that there was “no intelligence to suggest that an attack is expected imminently.” But in a statement, she said, “there remains a serious and real threat against the United Kingdom, and I would ask again that the public remain vigilant.”

While the lowering of the threat level may soothe nerves here, people are shaken by the disclosure that the suspects hatched their plot while working in Britain under the umbrella of the National Health Service.

Britain will conduct a thorough review of its policies for screening foreign doctors who want to practice here, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Wednesday. Brown, speaking in Parliament in his first appearance at weekly Prime Minister’s Questions, also said the Government would also expand its worldwide watch list of potential terrorists.

Five days after a failed attempt to blow up cars in London and at Glasgow Airport, the police are confident that all the main suspects in the case have been rounded up, a law enforcement official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Seven of the suspects, all men, are physicians, according to the official, while the lone woman, the wife of one suspect, is a laboratory technician.

Attention is now turning to unraveling the links within the circle of doctors to determine how this network was organized.

Investigators searched two houses in Liverpool, where Shabeel Ahmed, one of the doctors allegedly connected to the plot, is believed to have been living.

Police officers in forensic suits carried out several bags of evidence, containing computer hard drives and documents.

Investigators were “at the very early stages” of trying to find out where the alleged conspirators came from, said a British official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing government rules.

“There are various overseas connections,” the official said, adding, “It’s possible there may be an interesting Iraqi angle.”

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