Australian authorities are battling legal hurdles in India to gain access to a man who has confessed to planning a hijacked airplane attack on this nation's tallest building, the government said Sunday. Mohammed Afroz, a 25-year-old Muslim, was arrested in Bombay Oct. 2 and told Indian police he was a member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, the terror group accused of carrying out the attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington.
Afroz said hijacked airplane attacks had been planned on Sept. 11 also against India's Parliament, the British House of Commons and the 55-story Rialto Towers in Melbourne.

Indian Police have since charged Afroz with conspiracy and waging war against the country. He remains in police custody in Mumbai.
Australian authorities arrived in Bombay Friday to question Afroz, who took flying lessons in Australia in 1997. However, Maharashtra state's Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said they would have to get permission from judicial authorities to interrogate Afroz. Bureau Report