Ministry bomb threat: Constable sent to jail on judicial remand

“Mehmood claims he obtained a SIM on Aslam’s ID card but used his own cell phone to make the call,” says DPO Hussain.

MULTAN:

An anti terrorism court in Multan on Friday sent a Highway Police constable on a 14-day judicial remand on charges of threatening to blow up the Interior Ministry building.

Constable Tariq Mehmood denied the charges in court. He said police had traced the wrong mobile set. Earlier, a police official told the court they had recovered Mehmood’s mobile phone and SIM. He said the SIM was the one used to make the threats. Constable Mehmood was in charge of the Sopal checkpost in Burewala. He was arrested from a village in Burewala. The FIR was lodged in the Burewala City police station under sections of the Anti Terrorism and Telegraph Act. The police official said call records confirmed that Mehmood had called the Interior Ministery land line and threatened to blow up the building. He had also said that blasts in Rawalpindi during the Ashura “the first step of revenge.” Vehari DPO Shakir Hussain told The Express Tribune that police had proof that Mehmood had links to militant organisations. Hussain said Mehmood had told police in custody that he was trying to take revenge on his friend, Muhammad Aslam, after a fight. “Mehmood claims he obtained a SIM on Aslam’s ID card but used his own cell phone to make the call,” he said. He said police had arrested Muhammad Aslam first. Aslam was released after the investigation and Mehmood was arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2012.