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Published 19 Oct, 2010 12:00am

TTP men financed botched New York attack

RAWALPINDI, Oct 18: The capital police on Monday said Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) men had extended financial support to Faisal Shahzad in planning the botched terrorist attack in New York's Time Square.

This was stated by Sihala police in its investigation report about the arrest of three men, Hunbal Akhtar and Mohammad Shoaib Mughal of Rawalpindi and Mohammad Shahid Hussain of Islamabad. The report was submitted to Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Special Judge Malik Mohammad Akram Awan. The court put off the hearing in the case till October 26.

They said it had been established that the three men had links with the man in the US.

The investigators in their report, under section 179 of Pakistan criminal procedure code, said the three men used to visit Hakeemullah Mehsud of TTP and Shoaib allegedly allowed Faisal Shahzad and three other suicide bombers to stay at his home for one week.

In their investigation report the police said the name of one of the bombers was Qaiser Mehmood and another was identified as brother of Qari Hussain while the third one was unknown. Later, the men who stayed at the house of Shoaib carried out suicide attacks in Muzaffarabad.

On the disappearance of Humbal, Shoaib and Shahid, the police believed that they had been kidnapped and registered cases with different police stations of the twin cities. But on September 5 they received information that they had gone underground and had never been abducted.

Police arrested them from Islamabad Highway when they were traveling in a car (LXL-8485) while their two other accomplices, Faisal and Faheem, escaped.

The investigators got the registration number checked from Lahore and found it fake as the number was issued to a motorcycle and its owner was not known. Police said a laptop and maps of important buildings of Islamabad including Parliament House were also recovered from the vehicle.

They said the accused in their statement under section 164 of criminal procedure code before a judicial magistrate confessed that they had provided $43, 000 to Faisal Shahzad for the attacks.

Police had obtained the recording data of conversation between the accused and Faisal.

The investigators prayed to the court to convict the men for abetting and carrying out terrorist activities within and outside the country.

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