PESHAWAR, March 28: Police here on Monday arrested a seminary student for his alleged involvement in the Hashtnagri bomb blast, which left 18 people injured on March 25. An official of Faqirabad police station told Dawn that they arrested the alleged terrorist identified as Wahab and charged him under section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act. “The accused is an Afghan national and studying at a religious seminary at Ghari Baloch area of Peshawar,” he added.

Another source said that three more persons were also taken into custody but they were not charged in the case so far. They were under interrogation, he added.

He said that Wahab was admitted to Lady Reading Hospital as he had sustained serious injuries in the bomb blast. “Another arrested person, Naseer, is also Afghan. His family shifted to Pakistan long ago,” he said. He added that Naseer, a neighbour of Wahab, was working as painter of motorcars and had a shop at the Haji Camp.

“He has nothing to do with terrorism, but the injured suspect had requested him that he had sustained wounds and needed money at the hospital,” the source said and added that he along with two other persons was arrested from Lady Reading Hospital.

DSP Salimdad told journalists that police had named Wahab in the FIR. “He is injured and cannot be properly interrogated,” he added.

He said that the accused had a fake Pakistani identity card and some other documents wherein his address was also incorrect. “Instead of Gulbahar, he has written Gul Bahar Shah Colony as his locality in the CNIC,” the official said.

Meanwhile, officials of Tatara police station claimed to have recovered an Afghan student, Mohammad Ilyas, who was kidnapped from his residence at Hayatabad on Sunday. A complainant Haji Ghani had nominated Zahir Shah of Lund Khwar Mardan in the case.

The officials said that police had raided residence of the accused and recovered the student. They said that reason behind the kidnapping was a business dispute. They said that three people were involved in the crime but two of them managed to escape.

“The accused has been arrested but he is yet to be shifted from Mardan to Peshawar,” the officials said and added that it was yet to be ascertained if he was involved in other kidnapping cases or not.