HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad police on Tuesday claimed to have foiled an attempt to blow up the railway track near Sehrish Nagar here a little before a passenger train was about to pass through the section on Monday evening.

The suspect who was seen present at the place with intention to plant an explosive device was nabbed and the explosive material defused, they said.

SHO Farhanuddin Memon of the Qasim­abad police station said that he and a team of his subordinates were on a routine patrol when they noticed suspicious movement of a man carrying a white cloth bag at the Shahbaz Colony section of the rail tracks at about 9.30pm. Upon seeing the police closing in, the suspect dropped the bag and tried to flee, he said. However, he added, the police chased and nabbed him.

Later, the bag he had dropped was examined and sensing something dangerous present inside, the bomb disposal squad (BDS) was called in.

‘Activist of Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army nabbed red-handed’

The squad comprising Hyderabad BDS in-charge Ramzan Panhwar, his assistant Mohammad Azam and other personnel rushed to the scene and after examining the contents of the bag confirmed that it was an improvised explosive device (IED). The area around the spot was cordoned off to safely defuse the explosives, said the SHO.

Later, Mr Panhwar said that the IED was connected with a time device (washing machine timer) and packed in a paint bucket stuffed with five to six kilograms of explosive material, nuts and bolts to cause a huge blast and heavy casualties/damage.

The detonating cord was wrapped around the bucket and connected with the detonator and four 1.5 volt battery cells.

“It’s obvious that the actual target was the train which was to pass through this particular section of the rail track within half an hour, at 10pm,” the SHO said.

The police interrogated the suspect and identified him as Abdul Qayyum Narejo, son of Qalandar Bux Narejo, a resident of Jamshoro district.

He was booked vide FIR No. 113/2018 under Section 4/5 of the Explosives Act on the complaint of the Qasimabad SHO on behalf of the state.

Speaking to Dawn on Tuesday, Hyderabad SSP Pir Mohammad Shah claimed that Qayyum Narejo was an activist of the proscribed Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA).

“He belongs to the SRA group led by Asghar Shah and Muneer Abro,” the police officer said, adding that Sarwan Shah and some other members of the same group had already been arrested recently.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2018