KARACHI, March 19: Anti-terrorism court Judge Feroz Mahmood Wednesday ordered the seizure of the property of five absconding suspects in the killing of 11 French naval engineers in a suicide car bomb blast in May, court officials said.

“The court ordered the confiscation of all properties of the absconding suspects,” public prosecutor Maula Bux Bhatti said.

They were declared absconders on Feb 24 after police said that they were unable to track them down.

Mr Bhatti said that the police had some how located the residential addresses of Sohail alias Akram and Adnan Qamar, but addresses of other three could not be traced. The confiscation of property had been ordered to force them to surrender, he said.

The court, hearing the case inside the jail for security reasons, adjourned the proceedings until March 27 when the two arrested accused, Zaheer and Bashir, would be formally indicted, the public prosecutor said.

The judge also ordered that Bashir be provided a lawyer at state expense.—AFP