LAHORE: In what was described as a major breakthrough in the Johar Town bomb blast investigation, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab on Thursday arrested the owner of the vehicle which went off outside the residence of outlawed Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed on Wednesday, killing three people besides injuring 24 others.
Sources said that law enforcement agencies (LEAs) with the help of CTD carried out geo-fencing of the area to reach out to the culprit(s). They said that during a careful search of the owners of the black corolla car bearing registration number LEB-9928 which had been sold nearly six times, the LEAs traced out the last owner, who is a foreign national and identified as David Paul.
The sources claimed that the car was in David's use which he had given to suspected attacker(s) on "someone's recommendation". They added that David was arrested by the law enforcers when he was about to flee to Karachi via a Karachi-bound aircraft at the Allama Iqbal International Airport (AIIA). The suspect was offloaded from the aircraft and shifted to an undisclosed location for further questioning, they said, adding that the arrest of David was being seen as a major breakthrough into the investigation.
As per the TV footages, the car entered the city via Babu Sabu Interchange. The police official deputed at the checkpoint thoroughly checked the car but when he went ahead to check the trunk, the driver excused that it was not opening up. The sources claimed that the car remained at the picket for about five minutes.
However, the sources said, it was yet to be ascertained that whether the explosives were planted in the car at that time or that they were fixed when the car was parked near the JuD chief's residence. They said the security agencies have so far detained three people, including David, in connection with the blast and shifted them to an unidentified place.
Earlier in the day, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed accounted that the Punjab police were close to arresting the culprits responsible for the blast in Lahore's Johar Town. The minister tweeted that officials had achieved "great success" during the investigation process.
"Punjab police will soon arrest the suspects and give good news to the people," he said, adding that Pakistan's enemies could not tolerate the economic and political stability in the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and had started adopting "terrorist routes". He said that elements that want to spread chaos in the country would fail as Pakistan "will never come under pressure".
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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