The man who lived and worked in Australia as a hospital registrar had applied for the post through an employment agency in Liverpool, U.K. He was stopped by police at Brisbane airport trying to board a plane for Southeast Asia with a one-way ticket.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie confirmed the arrest and said police were also interviewing the detainee's colleague.
Police in Britain said that recent attempted car bombings in London and at Glasgow airport were directly linked, and have arrested seven people across the country.
A 26-year-old Jordanian man was detained Monday on the M6 motorway in Cheshire together with a woman thought to be his wife. Mohammed Asha had worked as a doctor in Staffordshire. Another man, 26, who worked at the Halton Hospital in Cheshire, was arrested in Liverpool. An Iraqi doctor was arrested Saturday after driving a car laden with gas cylinders into a Glasgow airport terminal. His accomplice is currently under armed guard in hospital in a critical condition. Another two men, 25 and 28 respectively, were arrested in Paisley, close to Glasgow airport, Monday, Strathclyde police said.