Times Square bomber: Alleged accomplice handed over to police

Abbasi in 14-day police custody, judge dismisses plea by three other accused.

RAWALPINDI:

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday handed over Faisal Shabbir Abbasi to the police, who arrested him yesterday in connection with the Times Square attacks, in order to gather more evidence against him.

ATC Special Judge Malik Akram Awan ordered Faisal Shabbir Abbasi into 14 days of police custody so that they can run him through an identification parade in front of witnesses.

Police had earlier filed an application before the court asking for time to collect evidence against Abbasi. Police suspect four people of being connected to the failed bombing, three of whom were arrested last year in May. They are Akhtar, Muhammad Shoaib Mughal and Muhammad Shahid Hussain.

Abbasi had been with them at the time but had managed to escape and was arrested on Wednesday in Sihala, a suburb of Islamabad. Police presented him in court and then asked for time to run him through the identification parade, a request accepted by the court.

On April 6, an anti-terrorism court dismissed the acquittal plea of the three other men who were arrested in May last year for their alleged links with Faisal Shahzad, a man detained in the US for an attempted terrorist attack in New York’s Times Square.

The lawyer for the three men, Basharatullah Khan, contended that his clients were illegally picked up by intelligence agencies in May last year from their homes. Their relatives had registered cases relating to their abduction.

The court observed that they would be given a chance to defend themselves during their trial and will take up the case on April 15 to record the statements of prosecution witnesses.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th,  2011.