Pakistan probes terrorist escape
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
PAKISTANI authorities have arrested two policemen on suspicion of aiding the escape of a Pakistani-British man suspected of involvement in an al Qaeda plot to blow up airliners, police said yesterday.
Rashid Rauf, wanted by British authorities, escaped from the police on Saturday after an extradition hearing in an Islamabad court.
"We have arrested two constables who were guarding the man when he escaped," said senior Islamabad police officer Moin Masood.
The policemen had told investigators Rauf managed to run away after they took off his handcuffs to allow him to pray at a mosque, another police official said.
"After the hearing, they had lunch at a nearby restaurant and then they went to a mosque from where he disappeared while he was preparing for prayers with the two policemen," said the official, who declined to be identified.
"They said it all happened in a split second and they didn't know what a dangerous person he was."
Rauf's escape is a major embarrassment for the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said she was shocked by the escape and demanded a thorough investigation.
Arrested in Pakistan in August last year, Rauf was identified as a key figure in a plot to carry out suicide bombings on trans-Atlantic airliners. Rauf had left Britain for Pakistan in 2002 after the murder of an uncle. Reuters
Rashid Rauf, wanted by British authorities, escaped from the police on Saturday after an extradition hearing in an Islamabad court.
"We have arrested two constables who were guarding the man when he escaped," said senior Islamabad police officer Moin Masood.
The policemen had told investigators Rauf managed to run away after they took off his handcuffs to allow him to pray at a mosque, another police official said.
"After the hearing, they had lunch at a nearby restaurant and then they went to a mosque from where he disappeared while he was preparing for prayers with the two policemen," said the official, who declined to be identified.
"They said it all happened in a split second and they didn't know what a dangerous person he was."
Rauf's escape is a major embarrassment for the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said she was shocked by the escape and demanded a thorough investigation.
Arrested in Pakistan in August last year, Rauf was identified as a key figure in a plot to carry out suicide bombings on trans-Atlantic airliners. Rauf had left Britain for Pakistan in 2002 after the murder of an uncle. Reuters
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