Rana Yousuf, 30, had called the police helpline on the first day of Eid and falsely told them that two bombs had been planted in the city. One was planted at the heavily frequented Hussain Agaahi Square in the old city area, and the other at the Shams public park.
Both locations at the time were witnessing a high influx of people due to the Eid holidays. At the time of the call, there were over 2,000 people in Shams park.
Taking no chances, police officials had rushed to both spots and frantically searched for the alleged bombs. After searching for almost five hours, they discovered that the call and the warnings were fake.
The criminal investigation unit of Multan police started a covert operation against those behind the incident.
Police said Yousuf had used the SIM card of one of his friends, whom he wanted to entrap because of a business rivalry.
Police in August traced the SIM card and arrested both Yousuf and Noman Ali.
They were booked under sections of the anti-terror act.
In subsequent investigations, Yousuf’s voice was matched to the recording of the call made to 15. Meanwhile, Ali was held for association in the crime.
On Saturday, Yousuf was convicted and sentenced to 26 years in prison while the court released Ali owing to unsatisfactory evidence.
Meanwhile, district emergency rescue service spokesperson Abdul Jabbar told The Express Tribune that officials of rescue 1122 are planning to set up a complaint cell for wrong calls in a judicial and official manner since they receive the largest chunk of hoax calls.
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@syed baqar ahsan: Please try to understand whole case. Its not ET but in other media outlets the guy claimed that he has planted these bombs. Making a call and telling police that there is a bomb at a certain place or telling police that he himself has planted bomb makes huge difference. His calls showed his intention to commit a terrorist act, kill thousands of people, destroy his own partner, wasting huge resources, creating fear in thousands of people and so many other crimes. This guy should never come out of the jail.
I think judge has not done justice only hit the wrong iron,his punishment should be reviewed sensibly.
So in Multan, a threat could end up in 26 year term, but in Islamabad, you can't arrest the one even if he has killed arm forces and has non-bail able arrest warrant
I'm glad action had been taken against these miscreants but isn't 26 years a bit high.