Traced calls yield arrest: Naval base attack suspect held in Faisalabad

Suspects of major terrorist attacks to be questioned; police still on different pages.

FAISALABAD/ KARACHI:

Traced phone calls from a terrorist’s cell phone, recovered after the 17-hour siege at PNS Mehran Base, led to the arrest of a suspect in Satiana, about 32 kilometres from Faisalabad, on Friday.

According to sources, Qari Qaiser, 30, was arrested Friday morning and was shifted to an unknown location for further interrogation.

The accused, originally belonging to Dera Ghazi Khan, was reportedly running Zainil Abideen Madrassah in Chak No.383 in Satiana.

The suspect was reportedly in contact with the attackers of the naval base. Qaiser was already on the watch-list of various law enforcing agencies and was under surveillance.

He was earlier arrested after a blast in Faisalabad on March 8, which killed 25 people and injured over 130. However, he was released under mysterious circumstances.

Qaiser’s arrest has proven that investigators will have to broaden the scope of the inquiry across the country and not just limit it to Karachi.

Officers investigating the PNS Base Mehran attack are intent on questioning all the suspects who have been involved in major terrorist attacks across the country, such as the Rawalpindi GHQ siege and the assassination attempt on former president Pervez Musharraf.

The inquiry committee will submit its report to the naval chief within two weeks, officials told The Express Tribune.

“Investigators are moving suspects to unknown locations and are questioning them about their possible links. We may get some leads,” said an officer.

So far, authorities have been unable to match the fingerprints of the terrorists. One of the investigating officers said that the navy is questioning all its staff members.

Peeling off the layers

It has been established that the wall at the rear end, from where the terrorists entered the Pakistan Air Force Base Faisal, was a “blind spot” – an area not covered by closed-circuited television (CCTV) cameras installed along the boundary.

However, after travelling the 1.5 kilometres into PNS Base Mehran, the terrorists entered the navy area which is also covered by CCTV cameras, sources revealed. “We have asked for the CCTV footage from the navy, but have not received anything so far,” a civilian investigation officer told The Express Tribune.

The discrepancy between the information from the government and the navy surfaced soon after the operation was over when the navy registered the FIR against 12 people – twice the number cited by Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s post-attack press statement.

One navy source says that they found shoeprints that show signs of two people walking back towards the wall. However, the police said that they do not have such information.

Meticulous manoeuvring

According to the investigation officer, the terrorists were being led by someone with knowledge of the entire map of the base. The terrorists walked from the rear wall to the PNS Mehran in a line. “They were always in a line, following their ‘leader’ who got them through the area uncovered by the CCTVs.”

With them constantly moving in line, they only left a few sets of shoeprints and some prints were smudged by the others who followed.

“The leader knew exactly what he was doing. He knew what places to dodge and make his way into the base.”

With additional reporting by Faraz Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2011.