'MQM unit member' briefly held in London in connection with Imran Farooq murder

KARACHI: Scotland Yard  late on Wednesday released a suspect arrested in connection with the murder of former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq, Express News reported.

The suspect has been asked to appear before the police again in mid-November this year.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the Scotland Yard confirmed to The Express Tribune that the suspect was arrested from East London this morning. He is currently being kept in custody where he is being interrogated. The suspect is reportedly a British Pakistani, but Scotland Yard did not confirm the nationality of the suspect.

He is said to be an MQM UK unit member, party officials told The Express Tribune.

The suspect is the second man to be arrested in the case so far. Last June, the Scotland Yard arrested a nephew of MQM chief Altaf Hussain, 52-year-old man Iftikhar Hussain. He was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and is currently on bail.

Further, in May, Scotland Yard released pictures of two suspects allegedly involved in the murder of Farooq.

Scotland Yard claimed that the two suspects, identified as Mohsin Ali Syed and Mohammed Kashif Khan Kamran, were believed to be in Pakistan and had traveled to London on student visas. They are also believed to be residents of Karachi.

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.