Imam Says 2 UK Suspects Changed Recently

This undated photo made available on Sunday, July 8, 2007 by the office of the Common Enrtrance Test, (CET) in Bangalore, India, shows Indian engineer Kafeel Ahmed. Bilal Abdullah, a 27-year-old doctor born in Britain and raised in Iraq, is accused with Kafeel Ahmed, alleged to be the driver of a Jeep Cherokee laden with gas cylinders and gasoline into the main terminal of Scotland's busiest airport on June 30. (AP Photo/HO/CET) (AP)

BANGALORE, India -- For 10 years, Mohammed Hassaan watched the two boys in the modest gray house across the street from his mosque grow into young professionals and observant Muslims.

But things changed the last few years, he said Monday. Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed moved to Britain, and when they returned for visits they attended a radical mosque in Bangalore, cutting themselves off from their more moderate Muslim upbringing.

The brothers chose "a different mosque ... a different school of thought," said Hassaan, imam at the Khudadaad Mosque.

Today, Kafeel Ahmed, 27, is in a Scottish hospital with burns suffered after allegedly crashing a Jeep Cherokee into the Glasgow airport a day after police found two unexploded car bombs in central London. Sabeel Ahmed, 26, is held in Liverpool as a suspect in the terror plot.

Things started out differently for the two brothers. Both studied hard as boys, both went to Britain to find work.

Sabeel became a doctor and Kafeel became an engineer.

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that Kafeel worked in Bangalore as an aeronautical engineer for Infotech Enterprises, a large outsourcing firm, from December 2005 to August 2006, said the company spokesman K.S. Susindar.

Infotech works with some of the biggest companies in aviation, including Boeing and Airbus, among others _ possibly giving Kafeel access to sensitive design information from the companies.

Susindar declined to comment on whether Kafeel had access to design secrets or what projects he worked on.

"He was a sincere employee and from what I can gather he gave no problems whatsoever," said Susindar.

Hassaan said the men's father had spoken to him sadly of his sons turning toward militant Islam. "Who can say how or why they changed, but they were different," said the imam, a friendly bearded man in his late 30s.

Officials with the mosque later attended by the brothers could not be reached for comment. The Ahmed family declined requests for interviews.