January 18, 2008	Friday	Muharram 08, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: Nine police officials, including five assistant sub-inspectors and a head constable, were dismissed here on Thursday, after they were found guilty during an inquiry into Rashid Rauf’s escape.

Rashid Rauf escaped from the custody of two police constables on December 15, when he was returning to the Adiala jail after attending the hearing in the court.

The police high-ups ordered an inquiry to solve the mystery of his escape and fix responsibility on the officials in this regard. The inquiry was conducted by Senior Superintendent of Police Headquarters Mirvais Niaz Afridi.

During the inquiry ASIs Mohammad Raza, Khalid Mehmood, Mohammad Junaid, who took the high-profile prisoner to court from the jail on different occasions, and day-moharar ASI Sajid, line officer ASI Mohsin Raza, night-moharar head constable Mohammad Ashraf, robkar clerk constable Mohammad Ashraf were held responsible.

Also, constables Nawabzada and Mohammad Tufail, who took Rauf to the court on four occasions and from whom custody he escaped, were also found guilty.

“It was found in the inquiry that on the last four occasions, Rauf returned to the jail in the vehicle of his maternal uncle,” sources told Dawn.

ASI Mohammad Junaid, who belongs to the same village as Rauf does, along with constables Nawabzada and Mohmmad Tufail brought him to the Islamabad court from the jail first time and also set up the illegal practice of using personal vehicle, while taking the prisoner to the jail, they said.

They also took him to the house of his maternal uncle, while going to the jail a that time, the sources added.

Rauf was brought to the court on December 15 last year by ASI Khalid Mehmood and constables Nawabzada and Mohammad Tufail without having orders from the jail high-ups.

During inquiry it was also came to be known that the jail authorities did not make any elaborate measures to take the prisoner.

The authorities only asked the concerned authority of the Islamabad police through fax to make arrangements for taking a detainee to the court for the hearing, the sources said, adding that they did not inform that the person was Rashid Rauf.

Earlier, Rauf was produced in the court of additional deputy commissioner Zafar Awan at around 12:30pm on December 15. He was given the copy of documents produced by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The court fixed December 26 for next hearing before Rauf along with the constables, his uncle and the counsel left the court at around 1pm.

They sat in the vehicle of Rauf’s uncle to return to the jail. On the way, they stopped at a fast food outlet at Jinnah Park and took burgers. The constables removed handcuff of the prisoner when he requested to offer prayers at the Jamia Masjid Ghulshanabad.

He went inside the mosque and did not return. The constables conducted a search in and around the mosque but failed to find his whereabouts. Later, they came to the Margalla police station and told the police that Rauf had escaped from the premises of the courts, but later told the police the truth.

Rauf, a dual citizen of Britain and Pakistan, was arrested in Bhawalpur in August 2006 in his alleged connection in a plot to blow up the transatlantic aircrafts.

The authorities also claimed to recover 29 cylinders of (oxygen peroxide that can be used in making explosives), fake identity cards and immigration stamps from him.

However, in December 2006 the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities. The Federal Review Board acquitted him of all the charges on November 15 last year and ordered to release him if he was not wanted to law enforcement agencies in any other case. But he was detained under 3-MPO immediately after his release.

The British law enforcement agencies wanted to interrogate him in connection with the murder of his uncle at Birmingham in 2002.

The UK authorities had been demanding Rauf’s handover to its government, despite he was declared innocent by two different courts of law.