Suspected shooters in attack on Bilal Yasin held

LAHORE:

Police arrested two suspected shooters involved in an attempt to assassinate PML-N Punjab Assembly member Bilal Yasin in a raid on a hideout in Shahdara on Wednesday.

Several investigation teams working on the case conducted at least 10 raids at different places in the city before arresting the suspects in a 'covert' operation launched over a tip.

Police said both suspects would be produced in a court on Thursday morning for an identification parade.

Two motorcyclists shot the Punjab Assembly member on the night of December 31 when he stopped his motorbike outside a house to meet a former councillor.

The suspects reportedly were intoxicated and had dropped a handgun a few yards away from the spot while fleeing.

This proved as the first lead that helped the police reach the suspected shooters.

The brand new gun was of a Turkish model.

Police investigators found out that it had been purchased from a market at Neela Gunbad.

Several arrests were made till reaching the suspected dealers Sajid and Fakhar Alam.

Sajid worked at the Duty Free Shop and also dealt in arms secretly, while Alam had a weapons outlet in the market.

Sajid had reportedly sold the gun gun on the instructions of Alam.

The suspect Sajid had tried to go into hiding after switching off his phone when the police called him for the investigation.

An official said 16 teams of CIA police were working on the case.

A police spokesperson said Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Inspector General of Police Rao Sardar Ali Khan were monitoring the progress of the case

The police said they were also looking into further details of the incident, its possible link to any conflict and involvement of more people in the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2022.