LAHORE, July 28: Punjab police and intelligence agencies have launched a hunt to capture accomplices of an arrested militant allegedly involved in the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Hashim Qadeer, a suspected member of the banned Jaish-i- Mohammad and Harkatul Mujahideen, arrested from a bus terminal in Gujranwala, was allegedly responsible for arranging a meeting between the reporter and the main accused of the case, Ahmad Umar Sheikh, at a hotel in Rawalpindi. Pearl was kidnapped on Jan 23, 2002, and was later beheaded.

Police sources and people questioning Hashim said that some important information had been gleaned from him which would lead the law-enforcement personnel to his accomplices. “We are conducting raids in various parts of the Punjab. We are hopeful to make breakthrough.”

Ahmad Umar Sheikh, a British national of Pakistani descent, had been awarded capital punishment and three of his accomplices were undergoing life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, security of the accused in custody has been tightened. His cell at the Central Jail was being guarded by a number of personnel from different security agencies.

A Karachi police team is expected to join the investigation on Friday. The team is taking the accused to Karachi for his trial in an anti-terrorism court.