Terrorist facilitation: ATC grants bail to three FCS employees

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court granted on Monday bail to three employees of the Fisherman Cooperative Society (FCS) who has been accused of running an ‘organised’ extortion network and funding gangsters and separatist militants.

The court directed the release Saeed Baloch, who is the general secretary of the society’s employees union and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, and his two colleagues, Mahar Bukhsh and Dil Murad, after submission of a surety bonds worth Rs500,000 each. The men were arrested by Rangers in January, however, the paramilitary force showed them in custody in April, after rights activists protested and their families approached the court.



According to the prosecution, the suspects confessed to running an extortion ring, funding gangsters and militants of the Balochistan Liberation Army during interrogation. The joint investigation team’s report maintained that the suspects funded militants on weekly and monthly basis. Some unnamed politicians allegedly received a share from them as well. The amount was estimated to be in millions.

It was stated that the funding was used to purchase arms and ammunition and executing terrorist activities in the port city and in Balochistan. The report also read that some 150 people were illegally inducted into the FCS to ease the operation of crime network there.

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