Weapon seizures: more coordination, more successes

Police’s explosives experts says TNT was used in a large quantity in the explosives.

ISLAMABAD:

One hundred and seventy kilograms of explosives packed in a car and almost two thousand rounds of ammunition dumped at a house would have been enough to turn much of the capital’s highly protected red zone into a war zone.

These were among the seizures made by law enforcement agencies in the last few days. Along the way, a handful of suspects were also picked up.

Luckily for the police and residents of Islamabad, the intelligence apparatus was spot on with its information and acted in timely fashion. For the first time perhaps, a rare coordination between police and the intelligence agencies saved the city from unprecedented death and destruction.

It was not merely the arrests of a few terrorist operatives. The suspects taken into custody led the law enforcement agencies to big fish. Following two weeks of investigations, the police’s intelligence wing, on information provided by the suspects, raided a hide-out in sector G-15 and arrested their accomplices.

These were the terrorist brains, planning more attacks. The new arrests led the police to more shocking revelations. They told the police that more of their accomplices had been or were still residing in the hostels of a premier educational institution of the city.

Therefore, the two seizures and arrests went a long way in helping the law enforcement agencies in not only averting the immediate threat but saving the city from future horrors.

The people planning to use the explosives for terrorist attacks in Islamabad were expert handlers of weapons and explosives. Police investigations into the two seizures have linked the terrorists to the notorious Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In the first incident a week ago, the police, on the tip-off by intelligence agencies, raided a hideout in Islamabad’s suburbs and seized a car laden with explosives. It took the bomb disposal squad almost two hours to defuse 170 kilogram of explosives.

Police’s explosives experts said TNT was used in a large quantity in the explosives. A small quantity of TNT explosive can cause significant damage and can easily be packed or concealed in vehicles. If smuggled in, it would not be difficult to store the TNT far from prying eyes.

If it was not for intelligence agencies, the suicide bomber who was soon to arrive in Islamabad from the tribal areas would have easily struck a huge blow on some key government installation or personality in Islamabad, as revealed by the suspected militant captured during the raid.

Soon after, the police and intelligence agencies cooperation foiled another lethal plan. This time the Tarnol police raided a house in Sector G-15 and found five kilograms of TNT packed in remote control planes, six sub-machine guns, shotguns, 9mm pistols, 16 detonators, hand grenades and almost 2,000 rounds for different guns.

The men and women arrested from the scene told police their plan was broad-based and sophisticated. Using the explosives packed in the toy airplanes, they were planning to target key government buildings in a 9/11-style attack.

After distracting law enforcement agencies through these attacks, terrorists equipped with the seized weapons were all set to target the heavily-guarded red zone of the federal capital, which also hosts the diplomatic enclave.

Fortunately, coordination saved the day.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2013.