KARACHI, Feb 20: The police investigations into the disappearance of US journalist Daniel Pearl could not make any breakthrough on Wednesday, but the provincial administration insisted they were making progress.

A spokesman for the Sindh Home Department said they had found clues to tracing the locations of individuals believed to have information about Mr Pearl’s whereabouts. Punjab Police are also working to arrest Amjad Farooqui and Hashim alias Arif, he added.

Sources said the police had started looking for another suspect, identified as Jawwad Shaikh, who was believed to be one of the captors .

The police had checked the record of flights abroad with the help of national and foreign airlines and found that Jawwad Shaikh and Dr Javed Iqbal were booked on Feb 9, 2001, for Riyadh by Saudi Airline (SV-737).

The sources said Dr Javed Iqbal flew to Saudi Arabia but Jawwad Shaikh missed the flight. The police believed he was present in the country.

The sources declined to divulge more details, saying the police had started a hunt for Jawwad, whose arrest could be the key to recovering Mr Pearl. The US journalist had gone missing on Jan 23, under mysterious circumstances.