January 31, 2002	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 16, 1422

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RAWALPINDI, Jan 30: Mubarak Ali Shah, a religious group activist wanted by Sindh police in connection with the missing US journalist, surrendered to Civil Lines Police on Wednesday afternoon in Rawalpindi, officials source said.

He was shifted to Karachi by air amid high security alert, however, the efforts of the joint raiding team were under way to trace the clue to journalist Daniel Pearl, the official said.

Mubarik Ali Shah’s son and two other persons had already been interrogated in the police custody.

The suspect had a foreigner wife and he had returned from America recently after 15 years.

A source stated that Karachi police already traced the taxi and its driver who had picked Mr Pearl from his residence and dropped him at a hotel from where he went missing.

Two local journalists who had been meeting with Daniel in Rawalpindi were also questioned by the police.

The source said the police team had met a retired squadron leader also, who had been closed to Mubarak Ali Shah, at his private office on Tuesday morning and planned to pick him in the wee hours of Wednesday, but he fled.

Two investigation teams in Punjab and Balochistan were in contact with provincial police departments and agencies, another source said.

The source said search operation for the missing reporter being monitored by the Chief Executive Secretariat.

Our Staff Reporter adds from Karachi:

A suspect in the Daniel Pearl disappearance case arrested in Islamabad was shifted to Karachi on Wednesday night.

Confirming the arrest, Sindh Police chief said the suspect was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon in Islamabad and was later shifted to Karachi for interrogation.

A senior police official, requesting anonymity, said Shah was the leader of a religious extremist group.