KARACHI, May 26: The police have seized a huge quantity of material used for making explosives while arresting two suspects from the Mangopir area in a pre-dawn raid, the city police chief told newsmen at a briefing on Friday.
Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui described the seizure as the biggest cache of explosive material recovered by the Karachi police yet.
Giving details about the raid, the CCPO said that on a tip-off, the Lyari Task Force led by SP Muhammad Aslam Khan and TPO Lyari Omar Shahid had carried out a joint raid on a house in Mangopir area.
Their detention and subsequent interrogation led to the recovery of 425 kg of explosive material comprising sodium nitrate, potassium, six fuses used in bombs, and 55,000 feet of safety fuse wire.
The city police chief kept secret the identification of the arrested suspects, saying it could compromise the investigation. However, soon after, a press release was circulated in the briefing containing the names of the arrested suspects.
According to it, the suspects had been identified as Ghulam Hasan and Muhammad Riaz.The CCPO also refrained from disclosing the native town of the arrested suspects only saying that they belonged from the northern areas of the country.
However, talking to newsmen following the briefing, the CCPO disclosed that the suspects hailed from Gilgit and belonged to the Noorshahi group.
Replying to a query, Mr Siddiqui expressed his apprehension that the amount of explosive material seized could have been used in a major terrorism incident.
To another query posed about the US Consulate blast, the city police chief said that considerable development had taken place regarding the investigation.
He said that three cars of identical particulars had been detected, of which two had been looked into thoroughly.
The police chief pointed out that the original car having similar particulars was owned by the Nazim of Usta Muhammad district in Balochistan.
“We have arrested some professionals who specialize in car tempering by creating cars with duplicate particulars. Their arrest could yield further breakthroughs,” the CCPO hoped.
However, he added that the suicide bomber in the US Consulate case was still unidentified.
Answering to a question regarding the Nishtar Park tragedy, Mr Siddiqui said that the evidence collected so far by the investigators suggested that it was suicide bombing.He said the DNA report was negative suggesting that there was no relation between the family members who had contacted the police to report the disappearance of their brother.
“The severed head found from the Nishtar Park incident is still unidentified,” Mr Siddiqui maintained.
To another query asked regarding the arrest of a man for blasphemy, the CCPO confirmed the arrest saying that the accused was sending text messages.
KARACHI, May 26: The police have seized a huge quantity of material used for making explosives while arresting two suspects from the Mangopir area in a pre-dawn raid, the city police chief told newsmen at a briefing on Friday.
