KARACHI, March 17: The Rangers detained on Sunday a man whom they claimed used to head the Sindh chapter of banned sectarian group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) and had been involved in the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

A Rangers spokesman said that Qari Abdul Hayee, aka Asadullah, was arrested in a raid on a hideout in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Rangers official claimed that the suspect had also been connected to the murder of Daniel Pearl and was also part of a plot hatched in 2002 to attack US soldiers at a hotel near the Karachi airport. However, one of the accomplices, Asif Ramzi, had died while making a bomb and the plan was later abandoned. In 1994, said the official, the suspect had also been part of a plan to set free their mentor, Riaz Basra, from the Lahore Sessions Court.

The spokesperson said that the group Hayee had used to head in the 1990s, sent parcel bombs to several offices of the CID in 2003. He said the suspect had formed an exclusive terror team of five members, who had been assigned to launch sectarian attacks. The alleged members included Asif Ramzi, Naeem Bukhari, Saeed Kala, Muzammil and Mansoor.

The suspect was handed to the police after necessary investigation, added the Rangers spokesperson.