KARACHI: Investigators have achieved a “breakthrough” in their probe into the attack on the Chinese consulate as it has emerged that one of the killed militants had stayed in Karachi and carried out a prolonged reconnaissance while more than a dozen suspects and their abettors have been detained for interrogation, it emerged on Saturday.

Three heavily armed militants were shot dead in a shoot-out with police and Rangers during a gun-and-grenade attack on the Chinese consulate. Two police officials and two visa applicants, a father and son, were also killed in the Nov 23 assault.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed credit for the attack.

Consulate’s reconnaissance

Sources familiar with the proceedings of the investigation told Dawn on Saturday that it emerged during the probe that one of the killed militants, Abdul Raziq, resident of Kharan, with his accomplice Abdul Latif, hailing from Khuzdar in Balochistan, had visited Karachi on Aug 6 also. They both stayed at hotels in Lyari and Saddar and conducted reconnaissance of the consulate.

More than 15 suspects and abettors detained for questioning

With the help of technology, it has also been discovered that the killed militants had also stayed in Sindh’s two cities, Shahdadpur and Sukkur, before going back to Quetta. They returned to Karachi via Hub, Balochistan, on the night of Nov 23 and stayed for a while in the Shershah area of Karachi before launching the gun-and-grenade attack.

Sources told Dawn that a system launched by the Sindh police with the help of the National Database and Registration Authority a few days before the attack on the foreign mission was providing much help to the investigators.

Biometric authentication

The Sindh police on Nov 17 formally launched the biometric verification services at the Central Police Office in Karachi, which would help access record of criminals and identify unclaimed bodies with Nadra’s help.

The police now have access to data of at least one million criminals across the country, said the sources. A software has been provided to all hotels in the city and with the writing of a name and the computerised identity card number in a register the data will be transferred to the police’s control room “within 30 seconds”.

The sources said that this software helped the investigators ascertain that the killed militant Raziq and his accomplice Latif had stayed at two hotels in the city. It appeared that Raziq was commanding the attack on the consulate.

They said the technology was helping the investigators in intensifying the search for the suspects and their abetters.

At least 15 suspects and their accomplices have been detained for questioning, added the sources.

They revealed that the investigators had learned that the BLA separatists had been planning a deadly attack on the Chinese consulate for the last eight to 10 months.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2018