The FBI confirmed a report in yesterday's Inquirer that two of the seven doctors tied to last week's attacks had contacted a Philadelphia-based service that certifies foreign-trained doctors to work in the United States. One of them is neurologist Mohammed Jamil Asha, a Jordanian, the FBI confirmed.
The second doctor, sources said, is Mohammed Haneef, an Indian detained last week as he tried to leave Australia.
Neither doctor ever visited the United States, the sources said.
After the attempted attacks in Britain last week, FBI agents in Philadelphia visited the Market Street offices of the nonprofit organization that is the national clearinghouse for foreign-trained doctors seeking graduate work - the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.
Agents found records related to applications by Asha and Haneef, officials said. The education commission verifies foreign doctors' credentials and administers required exams. It does not issue visas.
Stephen Seeling, the commission's vice president, who was visited by FBI agents this week, said he could not comment on any applicant.
Asha, who graduated from medical school in Jordan in 2004, applied to take the U.S. graduate tests last year, FBI spokeswoman Nancy O'Dowd said. Sources said Haneef also applied last year.
Apparently, neither doctor took the entrance tests, officials said.
Asha, 26, and his wife, Marwa, 27, a medical technician, were arrested by British authorities on a highway near their Manchester home last Saturday, hours after the car-bomb attempt at the Glasgow airport.
Haneef, 27, was arrested in Brisbane, Australia, on Monday as he allegedly tried to leave the country on a one-way ticket. The Brisbane Times reported in today's editions that Australian police questioned five other Indian doctors yesterday.
