KARACHI: Six taken into custody for Aladin Park blast
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 10: Police on Tuesday took six people into custody for their alleged involvement in an explosion outside the Aladin Park on Monday night.
Mohammad Riaz, 27, the alleged carrier of the bomb, who received injuries in the blast, has already been arrested by the police.
Police stated that they have recovered a huge quantity of explosive material from a house during their raid in Korangi on the lead provided by the injured.
Riaz, an activist of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and now associated with the Muslim United Army, had lost his left hand and suffered serious injuries in the blast.
“Riaz has been arrested and is under treatment at the JPMC.”, a senior official of the police operations told Dawn on condition of anonymity.
He said Riaz, a motor-mechanic at a shop near Shafiq Mor in New Karachi, got training in terrorist activities at a jehadi camp in Mansehra and had participated in jehad in Afghanistan, some one-and-a-half years back.
According to the operations branch of the police, Riaz was allegedly carrying the bomb to plant it at the entrance of the park. He attempted to fix the timer, but due to mishandling, it went off, the police said.
Riaz also told the police that two other bombs were lying outside the park. The police later recovered the bombs and detonated them at a ground adjacent to the park. Riaz was taken to a private hospital first and then shifted to the JPMC where he was admitted to Ward No 17.
The police raided Riaz’s house (ST-18/C-93, sector 50/A) in Korangi-4, and recovered 12 bags of ammonium nitrate, two boxes of explosive, a walkie-talkie, different sorts of wire, 12 detonators, and other material, used in making time-bombs.
Following the recovery of the of the explosives, the police picked up Riaz’s brothers Shaukat Ali, Mehmood Ali and Mohammad Rashid and their father Abdul Karim. Two others, Javed and Jibran Siddiqui, were also picked up on the lead given by the detained suspects.
A police official said that Abdul Karim, father of the arrested man Riaz, told the police that his son had gone to participate in jehad. Karim said he had been supporting his son in the cause but he did not know the possible targets, where his son attempted to attack in future.
A police official said the police suspected Riaz’s involvement in a series of explosions at fuel-filling stations of Shell Pakistan and Caltex in March.
Riaz might also be associated with a jehadi outfit as the recovery of explosive from his Korangi house indicated that he had designs to create a wave of terror through explosions.
“We are waiting for the recovery of Riaz who may help police break another terrorist network”, he added.
A press release containing a statement from the spokesman for the ‘Muslim United Army’, sent to newspaper offices on March 17, had claimed the responsibility of 21 explosions at fuel-filling stations of Shell Pakistan and Caltex on March 16.
It had warned the government that if the steps against the mujahideen were not stopped, major attacks would follow.
Aziz Bhatti police have registered an FIR under section 3/5 explosive act and section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
KARACHI, June 10: Police on Tuesday took six people into custody for their alleged involvement in an explosion outside the Aladin Park on Monday night.
