Australian federal police on Sunday dismissed as inaccurate reports that Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef could have been involved in a plot to carry out a terrorist attack on the Gold Coast while his lawyer termed these charges as fanciful.
Commissioner Mick Keelty said there was no truth in the reports, and that the information had not come from the Australian Federal Police.
"There has been significant misreporting on many aspects of this case," he was quoted as saying by the media.
"It is neither practical, nor the role of the AFP, to correct every wrong assertion or piece of speculation that has been put forward. We will be taking the extraordinary step of contacting Haneef's lawyer to correct the record.
"Consistent with the AFP's position in this and all other cases, it is inappropriate to discuss or speculate on potential evidence," he said.
Newspapers published by News Limited media outlet claimed that the Australian Federal Police was examining images of a Gold Coast building and its foundations found among photographs and documents seized in a raid of Haneef's Southport unit three weeks ago.
Quoting anonymous sources, the reports said the AFP was looking at documents, which referred to destroying structures and had information that Haneef was allegedly one of a group of doctors who had been learning to fly in Queensland.
Haneef's lawyer Peter Russo said these claims were "fanciful and wrong".
"It is extraordinary that, after the events of the last three weeks and, particularly, the last week, allegations of this seriousness would be published in a media outlet on a completely anonymous basis," Russo said.
"If the AFP and prosecution have any evidence on which they purport to base these serious allegations, they should provide copies of that evidence to Dr Haneef's solicitors so that a considered response may be provided," he said, adding the allegations had not been put to his client.
"No allegation of this kind published today has ever been put to my client despite 24 hours of questioning and nearly two weeks of detention prior to the latest interview," Russo said.
He said he personally found out about the claims through the media, just like he learned of the federal government's move to cancel Haneef's working visa despite a Brisbane magistrate granting him bail.
"It's just frustrating because you've got to understand that they've just really put us on the drip feed," Russo said, adding he was unsure whether his client had seen the newspapers and read the claims.
"To all the allegations that I've had to put to him -- I've spoken to him about the allegation that when he was at school he was part of a banned terrorist group in India -- basically, he disagreed with it," he further added.
Herald Sun newspaper reported that Australian Federal Police are trawling through Haneef's e-mail conversations with his cousins, held in Britain in connection with the failed terror plot, on two computers seized after Haneef's arrest on July 2.
A senior Government source was quoted as claiming that e-mails between Haneef and his cousins, Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, were being examined as possible evidence that the Indian doctor was involved in a terror plot.
"The laptops have heaps and heaps of conversations, e-mailed conversations between Haneef and his cousins, as well as some from chat rooms. It's all in Urdu," the source was quoted as saying by the paper, adding "they're not easily readable."
The source claimed the AFP had downloaded 31,000 pages of documents from the two hard drives. "There is a range of potential evidence and a range of possible leads."
The paper quoted police sources as saying that the probe was also examining information seized in the raid that indicated the Gold Coast doctor planned to leave Australia the day before or after September 11 -- the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York.
It was understood in his second interview with the AFP last Saturday, Haneef was questioned about photographs found in the raid. The photos were of him and his family taken at the base of the prominent Gold Coast building, the report said.
Haneef, a Registrar at Gold Coast Hospital since September, said the images were tourist shots.
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