RAWALPINDI: The police on Wednesday arrested a suspect in the 2007 Pervez Musharraf plane attack case who had previously been released due to lack of evidence.

A senior police official told Dawn the suspect, Nadeem Yousaf, was arrested from Bhoosa Godown in Ratta Amral area and taken to Adiala Jail for 30 days. His detention orders were issued by Rawalpindi district coordination officer. The police claimed that Yousaf has links to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Earlier, he had been arrested in 2007 following the gun attack on the airplane carrying former president Pervez Musharraf. However, in the same year, he was released by the court on the basis of lack of evidence, the officer said.

Yousaf’s arrest is part of the fresh crackdown against terrorists launched on Tuesday. According to security sources, four suspects from Rawalpindi district and two from Jhelum have been detained since the crackdown was launched.

On Tuesday, across the province, the police began action against banned outfits. The activists of these outfits have been placed on the terror watch list under the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA).

In Rawalpindi division, the police had been asked to arrest 43 individuals listed as hardcore activists of the banned outfits. These include 22 from Rawalpindi and seven each from Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal. According to security sources, most activists on the watch list have gone into hiding since the crackdown was launched.

The home secretary also delegated powers of detention to district coordination officers (DCOs) under the ATA.

Published in Dawn February 12th , 2015

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