KARACHI: The police counter-terrorism department (CTD) on Friday claimed to have detained a ‘police locator operator’ for leaking sensitive information about raids to militants owing to which the police failed to apprehend suspects involved in several high-profile cases, said a senior police officer.

CTD SSP Naveed Khowaja told Dawn that his team was working on recent high-profile cases and traced mobile phone numbers of some suspects. But whenever the CTD team conducted a raid with the help of locator to capture the suspects, their mobile phones were found off at that particular moment.

The senior officer said that it triggered suspicions that someone was leaking information to militants about such raids.

The SSP revealed that with technical help, the police arrested a policeman identified as Irfan who worked as locator operator in the police special branch. The officer said the CTD police had registered a case against him over charges of ‘facilitating’ terrorists.

It was being probed as to whether the held policeman used to provide the sensitive information to militants in return of some money or he was ideologically affiliated with them.

The CTD SSP admitted that due to the activities of the detained policeman, they had failed to apprehend at least eight militants involved in terrorism and sectarian cases.

Meanwhile, another police officer, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that the held policeman’s two brothers were also working in the police department.

The officer said that the held policeman had ‘sectarian affiliation’.

Published in Dawn December 10th, 2016