Lahore bust: Al Qaeda’s tech hub smashed; 13 rounded up

Ransom calls for Ali Musa Gilani, Shahbaz Taseer made from the phone exchange.

KARACHI:

Security agencies raided an alleged technical hub of al Qaeda in Lahore and arrested 13 suspected terrorists, including seven women.

The alleged tech hub was being used to trace phone numbers of influential and affluent people across the country in order to make phone calls for extortion and kidnapping for ransom, an official told The Express Tribune.

The office had a huge set-up with computers and a big telephone exchange through which untraceable phone calls were made, as international country codes flashed on the screen of the receiver. No one could guess the calls were being made from Lahore, the official added.

Ransom calls regarding Ali Musa Gilani, the kidnapped son of Yousaf Raza Gilani, and Shahbaz Taseer, the kidnapped son of the late Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, were also traced from this exchange, he claimed.

Officials managed to trace a phone call from the exchange at 2:30am on Monday and conducted the raid. Thirteen alleged terrorists were arrested while about six of their accomplices fled before the raid. The women were locked up in the Race Course Women’s Police Station,
while the men are in the custody of intelligence agencies, officials said.

The office was spread over three adjoining houses. The suspects worked in the basement of the house with their equipment installed, while the ground floor was masked as a revering place for a Pir. Law-enforcement agencies seized weapons from the site as well.

However, neighbours said they had no idea or suspicion about the presence of the alleged terrorists.

After this apprehension, the intelligence agencies conducted a series of raids throughout the city on Tuesday. By late evening, some more accused were arrested in a raid in Bakkar Mandi and Cooperative Housing Society.


Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2013.