Terrorism plot foiled: Explosives, raw materials seized

The explosives, detonators and prima cards were to be used in terrorist activities .

PESHAWAR:

A huge quantity of raw material and explosive devices were seized and two suspects arrested near Peshawar on Saturday, police said.

SSP Operations Peshawar Ijaz Ahmed told reporters at Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines that the recovery took place following a tip-off that explosives were being smuggled to Peshawar from Rawalpindi.

Ijaz said that police intercepted a truck (GLT 937) at the under-construction section of the motorway and recovered 2,250 safety fuses, 375 kilograms of explosive materials, 10,000 detonators, 1,250 prima cards and other equipment.

The explosives had been supplied from Rawalpindi with the intention to use them in terrorist acts somewhere in the provincial metropolis.

The SSP said that the main targets seemed to be educational institutions, adding that the arrested suspects were involved in blasts at different schools at Warsak Road and in suburban parts of Peshawar.

He said that the explosives were so powerful that they could cause damage within a radius of two to three kilometres. The gangsters, he said, were also linked to terrorist groups involved in many heinous crimes.

“We have handed over the explosives to security forces as the police have no arrangement to safely handle them,” the SSP said, adding that efforts were underway to arrest the main
supplier, Bilal Ihsan, in order to reach to the rest of the terrorists.

He was confident that the arrested accused would reveal the names of key people involved in recent terrorist incidents.

The accused who were arrested are Daud Khan of Sarkai Kamar Bara and Khurshid of Qambar Khel Kajhori Bara in Khyber Agency.

During the initial interrogation, they revealed that they were only carriers and the main supplier was Bilal Ihsan of Rawalpindi. The main accused, they said, is in Peshawar these days but he has yet to be arrested.

SSP Ahmed said that efforts were made to plug the entry points being used by terrorists for communication and Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabulary are also co-operating with police on the issue.

He said that the most sensitive entry route was the Frontier Road, which was used by the militants for entering Peshawar. Therefore the police have started round the clock patrols in the area and were checking all suspicious people and vehicles, he said.

A case against the terrorists has been registered at Chamkani Police Station under the Terrorism Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 03^rd, 2011