Court hearing: Rangers detain 13 suspects on terrorism charges

11 suspects affiliated with the MQM were also among those arrested

11 suspects affiliated with the MQM were also among those arrested. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI:
The Rangers produced 11 suspects, belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and two other accused before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday.

The Rangers informed the ATC about the 90-day preventive detention of the two men, identified as Rehmatullah Pirzada and Muhammad Tahir. The suspects were allegedly involved in fraudulently taking money from people against deceitful claims of getting the arrested suspects released from the paramilitary force's custody.

Pirzada and Tahir allegedly tricked people whose relatives were picked up by the paramilitary force on charges of terrorism during the ongoing targeted operation, said a Rangers’ law officer. He added that the suspects demanded around Rs5 million from the people, promising to get their relatives released from Rangers’ custody. Nothing of this sort can happen within the ranks of the paramilitary force unless an inquiry suggests a detained person innocent, he added.

The two alleged imposters were brought to the ATC along with 11 other suspects belonging to the MQM. The accused were taken into custody during targeted raids in the East and West parts of the city.


The Rangers produced the political party workers with charges of target killing, extortion, kidnapping and other terrorism acts. The law officer told the judge that the paramilitary force had credible information against the suspects for their alleged involvement in these offences. Therefore, these suspects were being grilled by the Rangers for three months, he added.

The MQM workers were identified as Faisal alias Paratha, Kamran, Ajmal, Safdar Masih, Kamran Lakhani, Imran, Ghulam Qadir, Imran alias Baba Chips, Imran alias Trolley, Raheel, Ehsanullah and Suhail.

According to the papers submitted to the court, the suspects were detained under Section 11EEEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows the armed and civil armed forces of the country to detain any person suspected to be involved in terror acts for a period of three months.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2015.
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