Key suspect in Sri Lankan team attack arrested

Suspect with alleged ties to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi picked up by officials from the Raiwind area of Lahore.

LAHORE:

Organised Crime (CIA) wing of the city police arrested an accused thought to be involved in the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 03, 2009.

Officials of the CIA, on condition of anonymity, confirmed the arrest of accused Qari Abdul Wahab alias Umar alias Farhan alias Behram alias Umar Daraz son of Akbar.

They said that he was identified with the help of the footage of the attack. “He was the one of the shooters,” they confirmed. The officials told that Wahab belonged to Dera Ismael Khan and was affiliated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He also facilitated attackers on Ahmadi worship places, they said.

According to CIA SP Umar Virk, the accused was arrested on Monday. He said that Wahab was trained at a camp in Waziristan. He also knows how to prepare suicide jackets, load vans with explosives and operate all types of weapons, the SP said. The police officer said that Wahad had come to Lahore to carry out more attacks. Virk added that the police believed that Wahab was waiting to be joined by his accomplices in an area near Raiwind when the police raided and arrested him. Wahab has confessed, during the initial investigation, that he had been involved in terrorism activities in Afghanistan. He said he belonged to Amjad Farooqi Group of TTP.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2010.