LAHORE – In a major development, the City police on Monday seized at least 1,500kg explosive material, two suicide jackets and 16 hand grenades from an empty shop in Iqbal Town near Sabzi Mandi, while the shop owner, Akmal, was also apprehended.
On the other hand, more than 250 suspects have so far been arrested from various parts of the Punjab since Friday’s twin suicide attack in RA Bazaar. According to the sources, the security agencies and police have arrested another 12 suspects from different parts of the provincial capital on Monday, as a massive crackdown has been launched across the province while search operation is also underway in the selected areas to keep a vigilant eye on the activities of miscreants.
As per details, some locals informed the police about a shop in Mehran Block, which had remained closed for quite a while but a large number of sacks were lying there unattended. The police raided the shop and recovered 60 sacks filled with potassium, used for making high-intensity explosives, along with 200 bullets of light machine gun (LMG) and 500 bullets of heavy machine gun (HMG) besides the suicide jackets and hand grenades from the spot.
SP Iqbal Town Ali Nasir Rizvi said the owner, Akmal, who had rented out the shop to Omer about three months ago, informed the police that Omar had disappeared for the last two days.
He said, “Four to five huge blasts could be executed by using the explosives, but the Lahore Police have saved the City from monstrous terror bid,” adding in case all the explosive material in a single act, everything within a radius of 500 meters would have perished.
The SP said the same material was used in six blasts in Iqbal Town, on the same day when two suicide bombers had struck at RA Bazaar, leaving 61 martyred and 136 injured. He praised the locals, saying the recovery was made only because of their active role and it showed that if the public helped the police, the terrorists would have nowhere to hide. “It is too early to establish the involvement of someone before completing high-level investigations,” he added. He, however, said almost 12 suspects had been arrested so far and shifted to a special investigation cell.
During the hunt, the SP said, more than 32 blocks were searched during which Afghans and people from Swat had been questioned, adding that the search operation would continue for another few days as it was evident that the terrorists had stocked their arms and ammunitions at places which were commonly ignored by the law enforcing agencies.
Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/16-Mar-2010/1500kg-explosives-seized
0 comments:
Post a Comment