NAWABSHAH: Shaheed Benazirabad police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a ‘terrorist’ linked to the proscribed Sindh Revolutionary Army (SRA).

CTD DSP Shahid Bajwa said at a press conference at B-Section police station here that they had arrested Mohammad Hanif alias Ballu Badshah, who was planning to blow up a train with explosive material.

He said the suspect affiliated with the banned SRA had received training in Afghanistan. The suspect was an expert in making explosive material and handling all kinds of modern weapons, he said.

He said the suspect was arrested near rail tracks close to Nawabshah railway station with 460 grams of explosive material, three detonators, batteries and other equipment. He was planning to blow up the train with explosive material, he added.

The official said that 10 cases of involvement in terrorism had been registered against the suspect in Karachi, Ghotki and Pano Aqil. He had confessed to killing three Rangers personnel in an attack on their vehicle in Ghokti in 2019, and firing on Jamaat-i-Islami rally near Nepa Chowrangi in 2020, in which six people were killed and 20 were injured, he said.

The DSP said the suspect attacked Rangers vehicles in Karachi University and Malir in 2019 and 2020 injuring six personnel. He had escaped from an anti-terrorism court in Qazi Ahmed a few days back and confessed to his involvement in major terrorism incidents during initial investigations, he said, adding that a case had been registered against the suspect under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2024