Australian police have admitted they had a secret "contingency" plan to keep Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, then a terror suspect in the failed terror plots in London and Glasgow, behind bars if he was bailed by a Brisbane court.
The details of the plan came to light when the content of the emails by Federal police, obtained by Haneef's lawyers under freedom of information laws, were published in The Australian on Friday.
An AFP spokeswoman confirmed the existence of emails and the plan.
"The e-mails relate to normal operational contingency planning," the spokeswoman said, adding no further comment from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) would be forthcoming.
The e-mails reveal the police had a plan on the weekend of July 14 and 15 this year to ensure Haneef remained behind bars by having Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews cancel his visa under the Migration Act, if Brisbane magistrate Jacqui Payne bailed him.
The new revelation contradicts comments by Andrews, who has always maintained the revocation of Haneef's visa had nothing to do with the police case against the doctor.
The first e-mail, sent between federal police officers on July 14 and forwarded to a senior public servant in the Immigration Department on July 16, stated "Contingencies for containing Haneef and detaining him under the Migration Act, if it is the case he is granted bail on Monday, are in place as per arrangements today".
{{/usCountry}}The first e-mail, sent between federal police officers on July 14 and forwarded to a senior public servant in the Immigration Department on July 16, stated "Contingencies for containing Haneef and detaining him under the Migration Act, if it is the case he is granted bail on Monday, are in place as per arrangements today".
{{/usCountry}}