Effective vigilance: ‘Terrorist’ caught off-guard

The suspect armed with explosives and grenades claimed to have links with Taliban leaders.

ISLAMABAD:

A suspected terrorist was arrested while attempting to enter the Federal Capital on Sunday. The police claims to have seized 4kg of explosives and two hand grenades from his possession. Ashraf Jonu alias Master Abid, the suspected terrorist, was arrested from a bus stop near Pirwadhai on IJ Principal Road where he was waiting for his accomplices.

He was also allegedly involved in attacks on Nato containers near Mastung, Mach and Chaman areas of Balochistan along with his other accomplices. Police said they had information on the suspect from intelligence agencies and close monitoring of the area was being carried out. On the sight of police the suspect got panicked and tried to flee but was caught. The Bomb Disposal Squad was immediately called to defuse the grenades and the suspect was taken to the Sabzi Mandi police station.

During initial investigations, the suspect revealed to the police that he was a resident of Mir Muhammad Janu Village in Benazirabad (formerly Nawabshah) District. He was trained in Afghanistan for preparing explosives circuits and setting up timers in the bombs. An intermediate, he had served as teacher for more than 13 years. In 1996, he along with a friend,Ghulam Mustafa Qureshi, an activist of a banned organisation, started collecting funds for Taliban. He told the police that he had to hand over the explosives to his accomplices to be transported to Quetta where his group was planning to target a Nato supply convoy.

The suspect had contacts with the Taliban leader, Ameer Abdul Salam, and had visited the Helmund province of Afghanistan in 2007. Abid had also been in contact with the Taliban Commander, Maulvi Khalil in Afghanistan. He told the police that his accomplices belonged to different parts of the country such as Lahore, Quetta, Miran Shah, Muzzafarabad, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Security in the Federal Capital was put on high alert following the arrest of the suspect.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2011.