After running into a blind alley, the police, with a little help from their friends in the intelligence wing, have managed to arrest a suspect in the twin murders of advertising icon Mukhtar Ahmed Azmi and his son. He was taken to an undisclosed location for questioning.
Investigators claim that the suspect was affiliated with the militant group of a rival sect. Initially, the police were unable to collect forensic evidence from the crime scene and could not record witness statements as no one was stepping forward. They did gain access to the CCTV footage but claimed that it was useless.
“We cannot discuss the arrest yet,” said a senior police officer. “We plan to arrest more suspects from the information we gather from this man. During the initial investigation, this suspect told us that his accomplices had been released from jail a few days before the incident. Some suspects who are in the fourth schedule will also be questioned.” The fourth schedule is a process through which the police keeps an eye on recently released inmates.
The police claim that two unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire at Azmi, Baqar and his grandson Ahmed, as they were on their way home from work.
The investigators told The Express Tribune that they could not find any evidence to link the attack with a personal enmity or an attempted robbery. Azmi’s family confirmed that he did not have any enemies and had not received any sort of death or extortion threats.
“Now we are clear that this was a sectarian attack,” said Gulshan SP Investigation Naveed Khawaja. “The police have failed to gather any leads from forensics and CCTV footage. This is a high-profile case and we are using new methods to solve it.” He added that none of the witnesses was prepared to give a statement and they were unable to get fingerprints from the car.
SP Khawaja confirmed that a suspect was detained in connection with the case. “The suspect in question was arrested in a raid,” he said. “Hopefully he will help us find out who was behind the attack. We have also approached mobile phone networks for calling data and geo-fencing reports.” He added that they needed calling data for an hour before and after the incident took place.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2012.
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