KARACHI: The law enforcement agencies on Monday foiled a RAW-supported major terror plot as the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Police killed one alleged terrorist and arrested five others in an intelligence-based joint operation here in the jurisdictions of Shah Latif police station.
CTD in-charge Raja Umar Khattab said the alleged terrorists were present in a building in Shah Latif Town. They had parked a rickshaw in front of the gate of the building which had explosives in its hidden compartments.
Later, the Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah flanked with the Sindh Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Mahar and DIG CTD Omer Hamid held a press conference at CTD DIG office, and said that initial investigations have suggested that most of the suspects hailed from Afghanistan, and ‘strong’ evidence has been found of Indian agency RAW’s involvement.
The suspects had specific targets in Sindh particularly the key institutions like Sindh Assembly and important figures and sensitive locations.
The identifications of under arrest suspects have been ascertained as Zahidullah alias Suleiman, Bismillah alias Haji Lala, Mohammad Qasim alias Haji Siddiq, Inamullah alise Bilal and Gul Muhammad whereas the deceased was identified as Mehmood.
This situation is alarming as the law enforcement agencies have recovered a huge cache of material, weapons and equipment, suicide jackets, hand grenades, Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers and bullets, Shah said.
DIG Hamid on this occasion said that as per the rental agreement signed in the name of one of the suspects of the house, the suspects were occupying, “they had arrived in the city 15-16 days ago. It appeared that the suspects were operatives of a hostile agency, rather than a part of any terrorist organisation”.
A joint investigation team is being formed to carry out its own investigations alongside the current investigation. IG Sindh said that efforts are being made to neutralize sleeper cells and further information would be shared once the investigations are done. The development came days after the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA) had issued a threat alert expressing fears of a major terrorist attack in the city.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021