Arrested Scot seen as hero in Bradford

James McLintock, the Scot arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of links with al-Qaida, was a hero in Bradford's Muslim community because of his exploits in Afghanistan fighting against the Russians.

Dr Rasjid Skinner, a consultant psychologist who met Mr McLintock recently, said yesterday it was widely known that the 37-year-old had fought in Afghanistan with the mojahedin 10 years ago, and he was thought to have volunteered to serve with Muslims in Bosnia during the civil war.

The Foreign Office was trying to confirm yesterday that a man detained on the Afghan border near an al-Qaida training camp recently was Mr McLintock. Dr Skinner said that Mr McLintock was a dignified man, modest about suggestions that he had been a hero in Afghanistan.

"He was obviously someone of good character. His parents are academics and he was a master linguist, speaking many European languages and also Pushto, Urdu and Arabic," said Dr Skinner.

"I felt I knew him before I met him, because he was such a hero to the community."

Mr McLintock, originally a Catholic, converted to Islam in the mid-1980s after reportedly suffering from mental health problems as a youth. His father, Dr Ian McLintock, a former Labour councillor and university lecturer, and his mother, Margaret, a teacher and Amnesty International activist, have gone to ground with their other two children.

Foreign Office officials have been unable to contact the family, whose house in Arbroath is deserted.

Mr McLintock took the name Mohammed Yaqub and settled in Bradford where he married and had two sons.