Weapons and explosives: Police show MQM MPA as ‘arrested’ in two cases

Party claims Kamran Farooqui was picked up by law enforcers from his house

KARACHI: A day after he was taken into custody, the police have shown Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Kamran Farooqui as arrested in two cases pertaining to illicit weapons and explosives on Friday.

"Unlicensed weapons and explosives materials were found in his possession," Nabi Baksh police station SHO Chaudhry Saeed told The Express Tribune, adding that he was also being interrogated for his alleged involvement in other cases.

According to SHO Saeed, Farooqui was riding on a motorcycle when the police intercepted him near Shoe Market in Garden and found weapons and hand grenades in his possession.

The police claimed that the arrest was made late on Thursday night within the remits of the Nabi Baksh police station. However, the MQM maintained that its lawmaker was whisked away by law enforcers earlier that morning from his residence.

Farooqui was elected as an MPA from the PS-111 constituency in old city area during the last general elections. His constituency remained a troubled part of the city in the past, due to violence in the name of ethnicity and political affiliations.

The SHO said that the MQM leader is being interrogated for his alleged involvement in that violence too. "The department has been notified about his arrest and officers are checking with different police stations for [more] cases if any have been registered against him," he told.

The MPA is likely to be produced before the anti-terrorism courts' administrative judge on Saturday, as the two cases against him have been registered under Section 23(1)a of the Sindh Arms Act and sections 4 and 5 of the Explosives Substances Act, read with the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2016.