LAHORE: In a bizarre incident reported by police, a man has been taken into custody for planning to target foreign dignitaries visiting a private club along the canal through a tunnel from his house.

Mohammad Din, who claimed affiliation with Jamaatud Dawa, had dug a six-foot-long tunnel in his house at the time he was arrested, Counter-Terrorism Department SP Maroof Safdar Wahla told Dawn on Thursday.

According to him, during investigation one of the suspects involved in a suicide bombing attempt outside the Gaddafi Stadium during the Pakistan-Zimbabwe cricket series said that a man was digging a tunnel to reach the club to target the foreigners. The SP said the suspect lived in an adjacent locality less than 100 feet from the wall of the club.

According to him, the suspect claimed that he had been associated with Jamaatud Dawa since 1994 and got militant training in Mansehra in 2001.

However, Jamaatud Dawa rejected the claim, saying Mohammad Din had never been associated with it.

The Lahore Counter-Terrorism Department booked the suspect under section 7ATA, 11f (2) and 4/5.

Mohammad Din’s wife said some plainclothes men had raided their house before the start of Ramazan and taken him away.

Tariq Parvaiz, brother-in-law of the suspect, told Dawn that Mohammad Din was a rickshaw driver, but later took up work as a mason. He had been living with his family in a 1.5-marla double storey house for 10 years or so.

He said Mohammad Din’s father Rashid and other family members approached the police station repeatedly, but no one there was ready to inform them about his whereabouts.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2015

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