Two terror suspects nabbed

Qari Usman had contacted alleged terrorists during the chief minister’s visit to the area

SAHIWAL/ SARGODHA: The prayer leader of the mosque of the Civil Hospital was arrested by the police on Monday for ties to a proscribed organisation.

According to the Counter-Terrorism Department, Qari Muhammad Usman had contacted some members of a proscribed organisation on his phone during Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to the hospital. The CTD had traced the call to him. They said they had also found hate material on his laptop.

They arrested him on Monday and obtained a seven-day physical remand from an anti-terrorism court in Multan.

Separately, the CTD arrested an alleged terrorist in a New Satellite Town police precinct in Sargodha on Sunday. A spokesperson of the CTD said they had seized a pistol and suicide jackets from him.

The spokesperson said that they had received information about a suspicious person at the General Bus Stand. A team of CTD personnel had arrived at the scene and arrested Muhammad Niaz, a resident of Tallagang, Chakwal.

The spokesperson said that they had found two suicide jackets, a 9mm pistol and 40 bullets in his luggage. The spokesperson said initial interrogation had revealed that the suspect had ties to a proscribed organisation. Police teams have been constituted to arrest his accomplices, he said.

Niaz had been planning to target various areas of the city including the General Bus Stand, the spokesperson said. A case has been registered against him at the Faisalabad CTD police station. He has been taken for interrogation, the spokesperson said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2016.