KARACHI, 22 December 2002 — Four militants armed with grenades who were allegedly planning attacks were arrested in the southern port city of Karachi, police said yesterday. All four men, arrested late Friday in an eastern neighborhood of the city, belonged to the outlawed group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Police said they believe the four were recruited by two members of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
Yesterday a court in Karachi ordered the four men held without bail while an investigation was conducted. The four men were present in court, arriving under tight security, their heads hidden behind scarves.
Under a new, strict anti-terrorism law, the authorities in Pakistan can hold a suspected terrorist for one year without laying charges.
Police said they received a tip about the four, who were headed toward a major thoroughfare where police believe they were planning to blow up a bridge.
“We swiftly took action when we received our information and were able to arrest all four terrorists with three hand grenades,” said Shafi Rind, divisional police officer in eastern Karachi.
Jaish-e-Mohammed was outlawed by Pakistan last January and declared a terrorist organization by the United States. Just two weeks ago, however, the head of the organization, Massoud Azhar, was ordered released from house arrest.
In recent weeks, dozens of members of militant organizations have been freed from jail in Pakistan, many of them in regions that border Afghanistan
While being interrogated, the four men told police they were recruited more than two months ago by two men from a Middle Eastern country, which was not identified. They said they were given 10,000 rupees ($180) to purchase explosives — mostly grenades — in remote tribal regions, where such weapons are readily available.
The four Pakistanis — identified as Riaz Uddin, Aziz Mubarak, Mohammed Kamran and Abdul Rehman — said they had also carried out several robberies to get money to buy more explosives and weapons.
In recent months their gang stole 200,000 rupees ($3,350), all of which they said they put toward buying grenades and weapons. They said the explosive materials they were trying to buy were difficult to come by and most of the tribesmen had only grenades to sell.
One week ago, police in Karachi arrested three men they said were planning to attack American diplomats. As a result of that arrest, police also seized about 250 sacks of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer used in explosives.
One of those suspects, Asif Zaheer, reportedly told investigators that a bombing that killed 11 French engineers and three Pakistanis outside a Karachi hotel in May meant to hit Americans. (AP)
