KARACHI: Pakistan Rangers on Thursday informed an antiterrorism court about 90-day preventive detention of five men, including a leader of the Sunni Ittehad Council, and three officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation for questioning.

The paramilitary soldiers along with their prosecutors produced Tariq Mehboob, Najam-uz-Zaman, Mohammad Anwar Farooqui, Abdul Qavi Khan and Mohammad Ali in the chamber of the in-charge judge of the ATC-II, Anandram Sairani, along with copies of detention orders and jail warrants.

They submitted that Najam, Anwar, Qavi and Ali were picked up within the jurisdiction of the Haideri, PIB Colony, Gulberg and Azizabad police stations, respectively, while the place of arrest of the fifth suspect was not mentioned.

The paramilitary force officials contended that they had credible information about the involvement of the detainees in targeted killing, kidnapping and extortion cases punishable under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Therefore, they said that the suspects were placed under the preventive detention for three months under Section 11EEEE (1) of the ATA for inquiry and their production along with the relevant documents was made in compliance with Section 11 EEEE (3) of the ATA for the information and record of the court.

The Rangers did not submit any further information about the suspects.

However, court sources said that during the hearing Tariq Mehboob said he was a leader of Sunni Ittehad Council while the other detainees said that three of them were the officials and one was a clerk in the KMC land department.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary force also informed another antiterrorism court about three months preventive detention of Adnan Baloch, said to be associated with one of the several criminal gangs operating in Lyari. The suspect was arrested in Chakiwara.

Drug peddler jailed for life

An anti-narcotics court sentenced on Thursday a man to life in prison in a drug peddling case.

Malik Mohsin was found guilty of carrying 10 kilograms of opium and two kilo hashish near the intercity bus terminal in Saeedabad in December 2012.

The judge of the special court-I for the Control of Narcotic Substances, Azam Anwar Baloch, also imposed a fine of Rs36,000 and in case of non-payment the convict would undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

A case was registered against the accused under Section 9-C of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 at the Saeedabad police station.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2015

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