Faisalabad blast: Mastermind’s ‘right-hand man’ arrested

Qari Abdul Rehman is known as an expert at planning attacks .

FAISALABAD:

Faisalabad police claimed the arrest of the ‘right-hand man’ of the mastermind of a terrorist attack in Faisalabad last month.

According to the police, Qari Abdul Rehman is a companion of terrorist Usman Ghani and has been shifted to an unidentified location for interrogation.

At least 26 people were killed in the attack at a CNG station in Faisalabad on March 8. The target was apparently the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) office situated adjacent to the pump.

According to police sources, Rehman was arrested late on Thursday night as a joint team of officials from Faisalabad police and intelligence
agencies raided a house in Jameel Town. The team recovered about five kilogrammes of explosives, nine detonators, material used to make suicide jackets, remote controls, banned literature and some CDs from Rehman’s possession.

Sources said Rehman met Ghani several times and is known within his group as an expert at making suicide jackets and planning sabotage activities.

Police have booked Rehman under section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, section 11 B of the Explosives Act and section 415 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2011.