October 1, 2007	Monday	Ramazan 18, 1428

LAHORE, Sep 30: A suspect in the murder of Colonel Bu Brekke, head of the Salvation Army operations in Pakistan, escaped from the Civil Lines police station on Sunday morning.

Major Mark Younas Joseph was taken into custody by police after 45-year-old Bu Brekke, a Norwegian, was found shot dead in his Queens Road office on Sep 27.

Major Joseph, also an employee of the Salvation Army, was nominated by his colleague Major Peter as the prime suspect.
Since his arrest on 27th, Joseph was under interrogation at the Civil Lines police station from where he escaped on Sunday.

“The in charge investigation of the Civil Lines police interrogated handcuffed Joseph last time in wee hours of Sunday and left the office. It was after his departure that the suspect managed his escape from the building,” a capital city police source said.

According to him, the accused was in an interrogation room since his involvement in the murder had not been established.
“We cannot formally arrest a suspect until his confession or the emergence of some sold evidence,” he said.

He said the capital city police officer Malik Iqbal had summoned Civil Lines SP Ahsan Youans to his office and reprimanded him for his poor supervision

Ahsan Younas and Cantonment Investigation SP Baber Bakhat were jointly probing this high-profile murder.

Meanwhile, according to the capital city police spokesman, the CCPO has constituted a team led by the SP (CRO) to investigate the escape. Besides, two teams led by the Civil Lines SP and Cantonment Investigation SP had been formed to trace the runaway suspect.

It is learnt that the CCPO showed extreme anger over Joseph’s escape from the well guarded Civil Lines station and did not address a joint meeting of the capital city police held at the Qilla Gujjar Singh Police Lines.
According to FIR, suspect Joseph was under investigation for defrauding the Salvation Army in a land deal in Islamabad. Being the head, the slain colonel was conducting the probe.

Complainant Major Peter had based his suspicion on this ground and said Joseph was also in possession of a firearm.

SUSPENDED: ASI Muhammad Ashiq and constables M Ashraf and Zahid Hanif were suspended by the CCPO for their negligence in Joseph’s escape.