LeJ militants remanded in police custody for five days

The administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts (ATC), Karachi, on Thursday remanded two suspected militants affiliated with banned sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) in police custody for five days for interrogation. The suspects have been accused of being involved in the suicide bombings at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan and a polling station in Quetta, and other terrorist incidents, including killings and kidnappings.

The suspected militants, identified as Furqan Bungalzai, alias Azam and Ali Akbar, alias Haji, have initially been implicated in cases pertaining to possession of illicit weapons and explosives. However, the police claimed that more cases against them are in the pipeline and will be filed with court as soon as the preliminary investigation concludes.

The arrests were disclosed on Wednesday during a press conference by DIG Amir Farooqui, the Zone East police chief, who was accompanied by District Malir SSP Irfan Bahadur. The DIG explained that the suspects were apprehended by the District Malir police during a joint raid with an intelligence agency.

Two hand grenades, as many 9mm pistols and ammunition were also seized from the suspects’ possession. They were later booked under Section 23(1)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act and sections 4 and 5 of the Explosives Substances Act read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Gadap City police station.

DIG Farooqui told media persons that the arrested militant, Furqan, was the commander of an LeJ militant wing and was wanted for several incidents of terrorism in Sindh and Balochistan. The suspect also killed two traffic police wardens on Quetta Saryab Road on May 27, 2018, the officer said, adding that two of his comrades, namely Rashid and Mehmood, were also killed in the counter operation.

The Malir SSP informed media persons about the involvement of Furqan in the Sehwan blast. SSP Bahadur said the suspect revealed during the initial course of interrogation that Mufti Hidayatullah, Dr Mustafa and Maqbool planned the attack on the shrine; whereas, he carried out reconnaissance of the shrine and shared his findings with Hidayatullah.

According to the SSP, Furqan revealed that after he had conducted the recce, two men, Noman and Nadir, took the suicide bomber, Usman, to the shrine who exploded himself there on February 16, 2017, killing at least 82 people and injuring 383 others.

The suspect also disclosed that when Hidayatullah was killed by security forces in Kalat on July 20, 2018, the banned outfit decided to take revenge for the killing and established a ‘Mufti Force’. Three days after Hidayatullah’s killing, LeJ leader Maulvi Khair Muhammad ordered Furqan and Noman to carry out an attack on a law enforcement agency, following which Furqan dropped a suicide bomber at a polling station in Quetta on July 25, 2018, who carried out the suicide bombing targeting a police mobile, killing 32 people including a policeman.

Sharing details about the other arrested suspect, Akbar, the DIG said he was also affiliated with the LeJ and his two sons-in-law, Salman and Saeed Taqvi, who were commanders of the banned outfit in Balochistan, had been killed in two separate operations carried out by security agencies in the province.

The officer said Akbar used to kidnap people for ransom for the banned outfit. According to the DIG, he and his companions had kidnapped a man, Abid, in the Tipu Sultan area in November 2017 and demanded a ransom of Rs350 million. As the ransom money was not paid, the abductors killed the man and dumped his body in Manghopir. He and his companions had also kidnapped another man, Raheel, in Gulistan-e-Jauhar and released him after receiving the ransom money of Rs10 million.

Granting police the remand of the suspects, the ATCs' administrative judge directed the investigation officer to submit a progress report regarding the investigations on the next hearing.