LAHORE: The City Police on Friday arrested five terrorists belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and recovered suicide jackets, sophisticated weapons and explosive material from them.
The police said that those arrested were involved in the blast at the Emergency 15 building on Queen’s Road.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Muhammad Aslam Tareen, addressing a press conference on Friday, said that besides being involved in the suicide blast on the Emergency 15 building on May 27, 2009, which claimed lives of 29 people including 19 police officers, these men were also involved in several cases of robbery and abduction for ransom.
The CCPO said that the terrorists have confessed to their complicity in the attack on the Emergency 15 building and revealed that Dr Amir Kundi, head of the Tanzeem al Tauheed wal Jihad was the master mind behind the blast. They also revealed that the wagon used for blowing up the building was stolen from Hangu, and handed over to the suicide bombers.
SSP Zulfiqar Hameed and SP (Organized crime) Umar Virk were also present at the press conference.
The CCPO said that the arrests were a big breakthrough. He said these men belonged to the Tanzeem al Tauheed wal Jehad, a group working under the TTP. He said that the police had been informed that this group was planning more terrorist attacks during Muharram-ul-Haraam.
He said that these criminals had also abducted people from various areas of the province for ransom and used the money to finance terrorist operations.
During the press conference, the CCPO said that the arrested members of the terrorist group had also said they had received training to make suicide jackets, pack cars with explosive material and use various kinds of weapons, in Dattakhel, Waziristan.
They told the police that the TTP had promised them four to five suicide bombers who had still to arrive in the city.
The materials recovered from the criminals were included suicide jackets, eight motor shells, 32 hand grenades, 13 fuses, a rifle, a pistol, 50 SMG bullets and 15 0.30 bore magazine pistols.
The suspects were identified as Sarfarz Ahmad, Shabbir Ahmad, Umer Hayat and Hafiz Mahmood from Faisalabad and Abid Karam from Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2010.
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