Imran Farooq murder: Scotland Yard arrests suspect in London

LONDON: British police investigating the murder of exiled Pakistani politician Imran Farooq in London nearly three years ago said they had arrested a man at Heathrow airport on Monday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

The 52-year-old man, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, was detained by counter-terrorism officers as he arrived on a flight from Canada and was taken to a West London police station, police added in a statement.

The name of the suspect was revealed to be Iftikhar Hussain. 


Data recovered from his cell phone is likely to lead to other arrests, Express News reported.

Authorities have barred Hussain from leaving the city.

The suspect was reached on the basis of forensic investigations using the evidence gathered by the security officials.

Around 3,000 people have been interviewed by Scotland Yard officials in the past 2 years as part of their investigation on the murder. Search operations were held for up to 40 hours.

Prior to the arrest, 2 houses used by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were searched for evidence. One house was owned by the MQM Chief Altaf Husain and the other by a man named Akhtar.

Farooq, 50, was a former leader of MQM and had lived in London in self-imposed exile from 1999.

He was on his way back from work when he was attacked outside his home in Edgware, north London, in September 2010.

A post-mortem gave the cause of death as multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma to the head. A kitchen knife and a house brick used in the attack were recovered at the scene.

The MQM, a secular party, has been locked in a battle with various rivals for influence in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, its main powerbase in the country.

______________________________________________________________

[poll id="1152"]