KARACHI, July 2: Two more of the nine ‘most wanted’ men have been picked up by the law enforcement agencies, raising the number of such detained suspects to four.

The Sindh government through a newspaper advertisement had announced a total reward money of Rs18.5 million on the arrest of the nine most wanted men for their suspected involvement in bomb blasts and sectarian killings.

Sources said on Tuesday that the law enforcement agencies picked up Sharib for his involvement in the Sheraton and US consulate bomb explosions. The government announced an award of Rs1.5 million on his arrest. Another suspect, Naveedul Hasan, wanted in the US consulate car bomb explosion, was also detained and both were being questioned. A reward money of Rs2 million was announced on the arrest of Naveedul Hasan.

However, officially the police denied the arrest of any suspect on the ‘most wanted’ list.

The well-paced sources said Sharib, a resident of Nazimabad, had nothing to do with the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi or any other such organization. He belonged to a religio- political party and was not involved in heinous crimes.

“A police party picked him up in Nazimabad and took away. Later when an advertisement appeared in newspapers and we came to know that he was one of the most wanted terrorists,” a senior police official on the condition of anonymity told Dawn.

The sources said Naveedul Hasan was picked up when a para- military force along with the agents of the American intelligence agency Federal Bureau of Investigation raided a place in Kharadar. The police remained unaware of the raid and the ultimate arrest of Naveedul Hasan, which showed a complete lack of coordination between the law enforcement agencies.

The sources claimed that different law enforcement and intelligence agencies were working independently to arrest those allegedly involved in sectarian killings and bomb explosions. They were also hunting for those who had any suspected connection with Al Qaeda, to show their performance and get reward from the government, they added.

The police had picked up Mohammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, chief of a banned sectarian group, on June 13. All of the high ranking police officials kept on denying the arrest of Akram Lahori for almost a fortnight. Eventually, Inspector General of Sindh police Syed Kamal Shah announced Akram’s arrest at a press conference on July 1, saying that the police arrested him on June 29, and obtained his 14 days remand from a court.

Similarly, the sources said the police had also been denying the arrest of two other hardcore activists of the same sectarian group, Ataur Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari and Faisal Bhatti alias Zubair Chishti. Both names were on the list of the ‘most wanted’ announced by the Sindh government.

Although the police did not have the custody of Ataur Rehman, he was in the custody of a para-military force, where he was being questioned. Faisal Bhatti was also lodged with Ataur Rehman at an undisclosed place, the sources added.

“We have almost completed our investigation and will hand over Qari Ataur Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari and Faisal Bhatti to the police for further investigations. We will also hand over to the police a copy of the report on the progress of investigation conducted by us”, an official in the para-military forces said, seeking anonymity.

Another police official said: “The police have failed to keep secret the arrests of these hardcore activists and the press is highlighting matters concerning them almost everyday. This will go against the police in the court and ultimately the suspects may take it as the benefit of doubt and cases against them may weaken.”