Security agencies detain tennis players in a case of mistaken identity

Search operation concludes. Two armed terrorists arrested.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police on Saturday arrested two young tennis players mistaking them to be terrorists, who had taken refuge in the Shakarparian forests behind the Islamabad Sports Complex.

Police, launched a massive man hunt in the Shakarparian forest after they received information that up to four suspicious men were seen in the area. Police cordoned off a section of the forest, calling in the bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs as they hunted for the alleged terrorists. The search led to the arrest of Kazim and Alamdar.

Security forces arrested the two young men near a helipad which is used by the military. They were detained for questioned for almost two hours. After the interrogation, the police released them, satisfied that the boys were only there to play tennis, a police official with knowledge of the incident said.

While security agencies questioned the two men, their mother filed a report that they had been kidnapped.

“Military guards had picked them up near the helipad on suspicion of roaming around a sensitive location in their tennis kits,” said the police official, adding that they found the boys in military detention during the search operation in the nearby forest.

As the two men, dressed in tennis kits returned after their sporting session, their mother watching from a distance mistook their detention for a kidnapping.

She informed the Rescue 15 police and the Inspector General of Police about the incident, suspecting that her sons were being kidnapped by ‘armed men’ after which the city police started the search for the boys in the forest.

After a futile exercise, the police checked with the military officials who informed them that they had two boys in their custody who were being questioned for their suspicious presence in the area, the police said.