PESHAWAR: The Counter-Terrorism Department of the police has arrested an alleged woman extortionist during a raid conducted in the provincial capital, senior officials said on Friday.

They said the department had registered a case on May 19, 2022 against an unknown veiled woman on the complaint of the owner of a house when she had dropped a bag outside his house, and told his servant to hand over the bag to him.

On suspicion, they said the servant called the bomb disposal unit, which cleared the bag since it contained cold drinks and detergent, but also a threat letter in Pashto language. They added that a case was registered upon complaint of the house owner and an investigation launched.

The CTD officials said according to the complainant, he and his business partner had been receiving extortion calls from two Pakistani and one Afghan origin number.

“During investigation of the case, Mariam Bibi was traced through technical data analysis involved in the case along with her father, Fazal Hadi, a resident of Mohmand tribal district, and presently living in the provincial capital,” a CTD official said, adding both were charged and their perpetual warrants were issued on October 13, 2022.

The official also said the woman was arrested in a raid conducted on Kohat Road on Thursday, and was produced before the Anti-Terrorism Court on Friday, which sent her on a seven-day physical remand.

In an ongoing investigation against financers of the globally proscribed militant organisation, Daesh, the CTD had on Monday arrested another member of the gang allegedly involved in financing the militant outfit.

CTD officials said Jehanzeb was arrested in a raid in the provincial capital. They added 23,500 Euros and Rs2.6 million were recovered from his possession. They also said Jehanzeb was arrested after his affiliates, arrested by the CTD last month, had revealed his name during investigation.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2023