KARACHI, Sept 23: Three members of a militant group that is accused of staging bombing attacks against foreign targets appeared in a court on Monday amid tight security.
The three were brought handcuffed and with faces covered before a magistrate on charges of possessing weapons. They were remanded in police custody till Oct 2.
Police say they belong to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al Aalami, 14 of whose members have been arrested in a crackdown over the past week.
Khurram Faridi and Amjad Ahmed had been arrested on Sunday for allegedly planning attacks on senior policemen and diplomatic missions.
The third man to appear in court on Monday, Arsalan, was one of two suspects arrested on Saturday.
An anti-terrorism court in the city separately remanded another suspect, Abdul Zaheer, till Sept 30 on a charge of possessing arms and explosives.
Zaheer, a civilian fireman in the Pakistan Navy dockyard who was detained on Saturday, is the only one of the 14 to have been produced before an anti-terrorism court rather than magistrates.
Officials say one of the 14 arrested, Sharib, is suspected of masterminding a suicide bombing that killed 11 French engineers in May. Three Pakistanis, including the attacker, also died.
Sharib is also wanted over the US consulate blast the following month that killed 12 Pakistanis including the car bomber, and over a plot to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in April in Karachi.
Police say Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al Aalami was also involved in attacks on policemen and outlets of McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Three group members are already on trial over the US consulate attack. Five others have appeared in court, accused of planning attacks on American fast food outlets.
RAIDS: Meanwhile, the police on Monday launched a hunt for the alleged financier of a militant group which is accused of staging bombing attacks against foreign targets in the city.
Investigators raided the house of Saud Memon in Nazimabad but found it locked up from the outside and left after questioning neighbours.
“We raided his house this morning and also a couple of days ago to (try to) arrest him,” Karachi police chief Asad Jehangir Khan said.
Memon, the suspected financier of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al Aalami group, is also said to have contacts with the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and other extremist outfits.
The body of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was recovered on his plot of land in May.
Memon is among 10 “most wanted” terrorists declared by the Sindh provincial government on June 29.—AFP