FC official arrested with explosives, detonators

 

 

Police have arrested a Frontier Corps (FC) official after recovering detonators along with a safety fuse from his possession at KhushalgarhBridge on the Kohat-Pindi Road on Sunday.

The bridge borders an entry checkpost between Kohat district of KP and Attock district of Punjab.

District Police officer (DPO) Abdul Kadir Qamar said police stopped a Rawalpindi-bound coach (E-3224) coming from Kohat for routine checking at Khushalgarh checkpost on the Kohat-Pindi Road.

During the checking of the vehicle, they spotted a suspicious passenger carrying a shopping bag in his hands.

Upon checking, five detonators along with a 23 foot long safety fuse were recovered from his possession, which could have be used to detonate the explosives both as a timed device or manually, he said.

The accused was immediately shifted to the Jand police station and was identified as Khalid Mehmood resident of Haripur district, the DPO said.

During a preliminary interrogation, the accused disclosed that he was a FC serviceman and serving as a bomb disposal expert at Thal Cantonment, KP.

The DPO said the accused had disclosed to the police that he was carrying the equipment to his village for personal purpose of ground breaking, which he needed for the construction of his house.

After the disclosure, the concerned FC authorities were informed about the incident, who also reached the DPO headquarters and verified the identification of the accused, Qamar said.

Following the confirmation, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was formed to probe the accused.

Jand police have registered a case against the accused and have also obtained a two-day physical remand from the judicial magistrate Jand for want of interrogation.

Moreover the FC authorities also initiated a departmental inquiry in the matter, the DPO added.

The DPO said preliminary investigation showed that the accused had so far not been proven to have any link with any terrorist organisation.