Weinstein abduction: Police arrest three suspects

Not aware of any arrest, says US Embassy spokeswoman in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD: Police arrested three suspects in  the Warren Weinstein kidnapping case, a police official said on Tuesday, according to a CNN report.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity, since he was not authorized to speak to the media. A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Islamabad said she was not aware of any arrests.

Weinstein, a development expert from the US, was abducted August 13 when gunmen, posing as neighbors offering food, pistol-whipped him, his driver and tied up his guards, US Embassy and Pakistani officials said.

As Weinstein's security guards prepared for a meal before the fast, three men knocked at the front gate and offered food, a senior Lahore police official Tajamal Hussain said. Once the gate was opened, three men forced their way in, while five other suspects entered the house from the back, Hussain said.

The men tied up the three security guards and duct-taped their mouths. They pistol-whipped the driver and forced him to take them to Weinstein's room where the men hit Weinstein on the head with a pistol, and forced him out of the house and into a waiting car.

Weinstein works for J.E. Austin Associates Inc., a U.S. consulting firm based in Arlington, Virginia, a Pakistan official said. He is a world-renowned development expert, with 25 years of experience, according to his company's website. It says he was heading what the company described as "Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development & Competitiveness."

Earlier lie detector tests failed to produce any information from the driver and three guards of Warren Weinstein, police investigators revealed on Friday.

The investigators said that a polygraph test had been conducted on the four people during which several questions related to Weinstein’s abduction were asked. However, no special information was retrieved from the driver and the guards, who are currently in the protective custody of the police.

(Read: Weinstein abduction: Lie detector tests fail to yield breakthrough)