Behind bars: Suspected terrorists sent on remand

They were caught while taking nine teenagers to a training camp in Oghi.

ISLAMABAD:

An anti-terrorism court on Monday sent three terror suspects, who were arrested on Saturday, on 14-day judicial remand.

The police had arrested three suspected terrorists along with nine teenaged boys of Dir district during a routine check of a coach on the GT Road. Police say the boys were being taken to Oghi, Mansara, to be trained as suicide members.

While checking a coach (Peshwer-C-5259) at Attock Khurd check post on Saturday evening, the police officials found nine boys aged 14-16 travelling with three suspicious young men.

The three men identified as Obaidullah, Inamullah and Sharifullah, all residents of Dir, said the boys were their village fellows and they were going for a picnic tour. Feeling something fishy, the police, however, detained all the occupants and informed their high-ups.

Hazro Sub-Divisional Police officer (SDPO) Syed Shaukat Shah and intelligence officials rushed to the police station and started investigation.

After the preliminary interrogation, the police found out that Obaidullah, Inamullah and Sharifullah have links to a terrorist group and were taking the boys to a terrorist training camp at Oagi.

The young boys were to be used as suicide bombers, police sources say.

Attock Khurd Police have registered a case against the alleged terrorists under the terrorism act and further investigation is underway. The police have also traced the identification of the teenagers and informed their parents.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Syed Shaukat Shah has confirmed that the three persons are members of a terrorist group and were taking the boys to a terrorism training camp in Oghi.

He said the boys and their families too believed that they were going for a picnic tour.

The police produced the suspected terrorists before the judicial magistrate on Saturday and obtained one-day physical remand. The suspects were produced before an anti-terrorism court on Monday, which handed the suspects into custody on 14-day judicial remand. The next hearing into the case will be on July 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2014.